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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



LEADING FACTS OF HISTORY SERIES. 

By D. H. MONTGOMERY. 



THE LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY 

With numerous Illustrations, Maps, and Tables. Mailing Price, 
$1.10; Introduction Price, $1.00. 

THE LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

(Revised Edition.) With nunneious Maps and Tables. Mailing 
Price, $1 25; Introduction Price, $1.12. 

THE LEADING FACTS OF FRENCH HISTORY. 

With numerous Maps and Tables. Mailing Price, $1.25; Intro- 
duction Price, $1.12. 

BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

With numerous Maps and Illustrations. Mailing Price, $ 
Introduction Price, $ 



GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 




Copyrigbt by Cbarles T. Root, 

LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD. 

A Statue in the Harbor of New York City, given to the American People by the 
People of France. 



\ 



,^J- 



THE 



BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY 



BY 



D. HyMONTGOMERY 

Author of the Leading Facts of History Series 



BOSTON. USA. 

PUBLISHED BY GINN «& GOMPANY 

1892 






Copyright, 1892, 
By D. H. MONTGOMERY. 



All Rights Reserved. 



>A-n 



Typography by J. S. Gushing & Go., Boston, U.S.A. 
Presswork by Ginn & Go., Boston, U.S.A. 



D. H. M. 

TO 

S. K. K. 



nONTQOMERY'S 



LEADING FACTS OF 



American History 



Within the first fifteen months after issue, the 
publishers were obHged to go to press with the 

• • • 295,000th copy • • • 

It was almost immediately adopted for exclusive 
use in the State of Indiana, and by such cities as 
Chicago, 111., Philadelphia, Pa., Boston, Mass., 
Providence, R.I., Hartford, Conn., Columbus and 
Cleveland, O., Burlington, Vt., Nashua, N. H 
Lynn, Mass., and numberless others. 

IT IS CERTAINLY THE BEST. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



This little book is intended by the writer as an introduction to 
his larger work entitled The Leading Facts of Americaii History. 

It is in no sense an abridgment of the larger history, but is 
practically an entirely new and distinct work. 

Its object is to present clearly and accurately those facts and 
principles in the lives of some of the chief founders and builders 
of America which wouk be of interest and value to pupils begin- 
ning the study of our history. Throughout the book great care 
has been taken to relate only such incidents and anecdotes as 
are beheved to rest on unexceptionable authority. 

The numerous illustrations in the text are, in nearly every case, 
from drawings and designs made by Miss C. S. King of Boston. 

In the preparation of this work for the press — as in that of 
the entire Leading Facts of History Series — the author has been 
especially indebted to the valuable assistance rendered in proof- 
reading by Mr. George W. Gushing of Boston. 

D. H. M. 

vii 



CONTENTS. 



PAGES 

I. Columbus i 

II. John and Sebastian Cabot 13 

III. Balboa, Ponce De Leon, and De Soto .... 17 

IV. Sir Walter Raleigh 20 

V. Captain John Smith 23 

VI. Captain Henry Hudson 32 

VII. Captain Myles Standish 39 

VIII. Lord Baltimore 50 

IX. Roger Williams 55 

X. King Philip 60 

XL William Penn 68 

XII. General James Oglethorpe 74 

XIII. Benjamln Franklin 80 

XIV. George Washington 91 

XV. Daniel Boone 116 

XVI. General James Robertson 122 

XVI 1. Governor John Sevier 122 

XVIII. General George Rogers Clark 126 

XIX. General Rufus Putnam 132 

XX. Eli Whitney 137 

XXI. Thomas Jefferson 142 

XXII. Robert Fulton 150 

XXIII. General William Henry Harrison 157 

XXIV. General Andrew Jackson 163 

XXV. Professor Samuel F. B. Morse 175 

XXVI. General Sam Houston 182 

XXVII. Captain Robert Gray 186 

XXVIII. Captain J. A. Sutter 189 

XXIX. Abraham Lincoln 197 

A Short List of Books 221 

Index 223 

ix 



CONTENTS. 



LIST OF LARGE MAPS. 

PAGE 

I. Map Illustrating the Early Life of Washington .... 94 

II. Map of the Revolution (northern states) 102 

III. Map of the Revolution (southern states) no 

IV. The United States at the close of the Revolution . . . 147 
V. The United States after the Purchase of Louisiana (1803) 148 

VI. The United States after the Purchase of Florida (18 19) . 173 

VII. The United States after the Acquisition of Texas (1845) • 185 

VIII. The United States after the Acquisition of Oregon (1846) 188 
IX. The United States after the Acquisition of California and 

New Mexico (1848) 193 

X. The United States after the Gadsden Purchase (1853) • ^95 
XI. The United States after the Purchase of Alaska (1867) 
See Map of North America (giving a summary of the 

territorial growth of the United States) 196 

Note. — In these maps it has been thought best to give the boundaries of the thirteen 
original states as they now exist; and to show the outlines of other states before they were 
organized and admitted. 



LIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 

I. The Statue of Liberty Frontispiece, 

II. An Indian Attack on a Settlement 66 

III. Paul Revere's Ride 102 

IV. Battle of New Orleans 171 

V. Niagara Suspension Bridge 174 

VI. Mount Hood, Oregon 186 

VII. Mirror Lake, California 192 



THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 



(1436-1506).' 

* 1. Birth and boyhood of Columbus. — Christopher Coliim- 
bus,2 the discoverer of America, was born at Genoa,^ a sea- 
port of Italy, more than four hundred 
and fifty years ago. His father was a 
wool-comber."^ Christopher did not care 
to learn that trade, but wanted to become 
a sailor. Seeing the boy's strong 



* 77/.? paragraph headings, in heavy type, will 
be found useful for topical reference, and, if de- 
sired, as questions ; by simply omitting these head- 
ings, the book fnay be used as a reader. 

Teachers who wish a regular set of questions 

on each section will .pid them at the end of the 

section; see page 13. Difficult words are de- 
fined or pronounced at the bottom of the page 

xohere they first occur ; reference to them will 

be found in the index. 

1 These enclosed dates under a name show, except 
when otherwise stated, the year of birth and death. 

2 Christopher Columbus (Kris'tof-er Ko-Ium'bus). 
Genoa (Jen'o-ah) ; see map on page 13. 

4 Wool-com)Der : before wool can be spun into thread 
Columbus as a Boy. and woven into cloth the tangled locks must 

(From the statue in the Museum of ^e combed out straight and smooth ; once this 
Fine Arts, Boston.) was all done by hand. 




THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



liking for the sea, his father sent him to a school where he 
could learn geography, map-drawing, and whatever else 
might help him to become some day commander of a vessel. 

2. Columbus becomes a sailor. — When he was fourteen 
Columbus went to sea. In those days the Mediterranean ^ 
Sea swarmed with war-ships and pirates. Every sailor, 
no matter if he was but a boy, had to stand ready to fight 
his way from port to port. 

In this exciting life, full of adventure and of danger, 
Columbus grew to manhood. The rough experiences he 
then had did much toward making him the brave, deter- 
mined captain and explorer ^ that he afterwards became. 

3. Columbus has a sea-fight ; he goes to Lisbon. — Accord- 
ing to some accounts, Columbus once had a desperate 



battle with a vessel off the 




The light parts of this map show how much of the 
world was then well-known; the white crosses show 
those countries of Eastern Asia of which something 
was known. 



daughter of a famous sea-captain 



coast of Portugal. The 
fight lasted, it is said, 
all day. At length 
both vessels were 
found to be on fire. 
Columbus jumped 
from his blazing ship 
into the sea, and 
catching hold of a 
floating oar, man- 
aged, with its help, to 
swim to the shore, 
about six miles away. 
He then went to 
the port of Lisbon.^ 
There he married the 
For a long time after 



1 Mediterranean (Med'i-ter-ra'ne-an). 3 Lisbon : see map on page 13. 

- Explorer : one who explores or discovers new countries. 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 3 

his marriage Columbus earned his living partly by draw- 
ing maps, which he sold to commanders of vessels vis- 
iting Lisbon, and partly by making voyages to Africa, 
Iceland, and other countries. 

4. What men then knew about the world. — The maps 
which Columbus made and sold were very different from 
those we now have. At that time not half of the world 
had been discovered.^ Europe, Asia, and a small part 
of Africa were the chief countries known. The maps of 
Columbus may have shown the earth shaped like a ball, 
but he supposed it to be much smaller than it really is. 
No one then had sailed round the globe. No one then 
knew what lands lay west of the broad Atlantic ; for this 
reason we should look in vain, on one of the maps drawn 
by Columbus, for the great continents of North and South 
America or for the Pacific Ocean. 








This map shows how Columbus (not knowing that America lay in the way) hoped to 
reach Asia and the East Indies by sailing west. 

5. The plan of Columbus for reaching the Indies by sailing 
west. — While living in Lisbon, Columbus made up his mind 
to try to do what no other man, at that time, dared attempt, 



1 See map on page 2. 



4 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY 

— that was to cross the Atlantic Ocean. He thought that 
by doing so he could get directly to Asia and the Indies, 
which, he believed, were opposite Portugal and Spain. If 
successful, he could open up a very profitable trade with 
the rich countries of the East, from which spices, drugs, 
and silk were brought to Europe. The people of Europe 
could not reach those countries directly by ships, because 
they had not then found their way round the southern 
point of Africa. 

6. Columbus tries to get help in carrying out his plans. — 
Columbus was too poor to fit out even a single ship to 
undertake such a voyage as he had planned. He asked 
the king of Portugal to furnish some money or vessels 
toward it, but he received no encouragement. At length 
he determined to go to Spain and see if he could get 
help there. 

On the southern coast of Spain there is a small port 
named Paios.^ Within sight of the village of Palos, and also 
within plain sight of the ocean, there was a convent,^ — 
which is still standing, — called the Convent of Saint Mary. 

One morning a tall, fine-looking man, leading a little 
boy by the hand, knocked at the door of this convent and 
begged for a piece of bread and a cup of water for the 
child. The man was Columbus, — whose wife was now 
dead, — and the boy was his son. 

It chanced that the guardian of the convent noticed Co- 
lumbus standing at the door. He liked his appearance, 
and coming up, began to talk with him. Columbus frankly 
told him what he was trying to do. The guardian of the 
convent listened with great interest; then he gave him a 

1 Palos (Pa'los) ; see map on page 8. 

2 Convent : a house in which a number of people live who devote themselves to 
a religious life. 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 5 

letter to a friend who he thought would help him to lay his 
plans before Ferdinand and Isabella,^ the king and queen 
of Spain. 

7. Columbus gets help for his great voyage. — Columbus 
left his son at the convent, and set forward on his journey 
full of bright hopes. But Ferdinand and Isabella could 
not then see him ; and after waiting a long time, the trav- 
eller was told that he might go before a number of learned 
men and tell them about his proposed voyage across the 
Atlantic. 

After hearing what Columbus had to say, these men 
thought that it would be foolish to spend money in trying 
to reach the other side of the ocean. 

People who heard what this captain from Lisbon wanted 
to do began to think that he had lost his reason, and the 
boys in the streets laughed at him and called him crazy. 
Columbus waited for help seven years ; he then made up 
his mind that he would wait no longer. Just as he was 
about leaving Spain, Queen Isabella, who had always felt 
interested in the brave sailor, resolved to aid him. Two 
rich sea-captains who lived in Palos also decided to take 
part in the voyage. With the assistance which Columbus 
now got he was able to fit out three small vessels. He 
went in the largest of the vessels — the only one which had 
an entire deck — as admiral ^ or commander of the fleet. 

8. Columbus sails. — Early on Friday morning, August 
3d, 1492, Columbus started from Palos to attempt to cross 
that ocean which men then called the '' Sea of Darkness," 
— a name which showed how little they knew of it, and 
how much they dreaded it. 

We may be pretty sure that the guardian of the convent 
was one of those who watched the sailing of the little fleet. 

1 Isabella (Iz-ah-bel'ah). 2 Admiral (ad'mi-ral). 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 




Columbus leaving Palos, August 3D, 1492. 



From the upper windows of the convent he could plainly 
see the vessels as they left the harbor of Palos. 

9. What happened on the first part of the voyage. — Co- 
lumbus sailed first 
for the Canary 
Islands, because 
from there it 
would be a 
straight line, as 
he thought, 
across to Japan 
and Asia. He 
was obliged to 
stop at the Ca- 
naries ^ more than 
three weeks, in 
order to make a 
new rudder for one of his vessels and to alter the sails of 
another. 

At length' all was ready, and he again set out on his 
voyage toward the west. When the sailors got so far out on 
the ocean that they could no longer see any of the islands, 
they were overcome with fear. They made up their minds 
that they should never be able to get back to Palos again. 
They were rough men, used to the sea, but now they 
bowed down their heads and cried like children. Colum- 
bus had hard work to quiet their fears and to encourage 
them to go forward with the voyage which they already 
wanted to give up. 

10. What happened after they had been at sea many days. 
— For more than thirty days the three ships kept on their 
way toward the west. To the crew every day seemed a 

1 Canaries (Ka-na'rez) ; see map on page 8. 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 7 

year. From sunrise to sunset nothing was to be seen but 
water and sky. At last the men began to think that they 
were saiHng on an ocean which had no end. They whis- 
pered among themselves that Columbus had gone mad, and 
that if they kept on with him in command they should all 
be lost. 

Twice, indeed, there was a joyful cry of Land! Land! 
but when they got nearer they saw that what they had 
thought was land was nothing but banks of clouds. Then 
some of the sailors said, Let us go to the admiral and tell 
him that we must turn back. What if he will not listen to 
us ? asked others ; Then we will throw him overboard and 
say when we reach Palos that he fell into the sea and was 
drowned. 

But when the crew went to Columbus and told him that 
they would go no further, he sternly ordered them to their 
work, declaring that whatever might happen, he would not 
now give up the voyage. 

11. Signs of land. — The very next day such certain signs 
of land were seen that the most faint-hearted took courage. 
The men had already noticed great flocks of land-birds fly- 
ing toward the west, as if to guide them. Now some of the 
men on one vessel saw a branch of a thorn-bush float by. 
It was plain that it had not long been broken off from the 
bush, and it was full of red berries. 

But one of the crew on the other vessel found something 
better even than the thorn-branch; for he drew out of the 
water a carved walking-stick. Every one saw that such a 
stick must have been cut and carved by human hands. 
These two signs could not be doubted. The men now felt 
sure that they were approaching the shore, and what 
was more, that there were people living in that strange 
country. 



8 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY 



12. Discovery of land. — That evening Columbus begged 
his crew to keep a sharp lookout, and he promised a velvet 
coat to the one who should first see land. All was now 
excitement, and no man closed his eyes in sleep that night. 

Columbus himself stood on a high part of his ship, look- 
ing steadily toward the west. About ten o'clock he saw a 
moving light; it seemed like a torch carried in a man's 
hand. He called to a companion and asked him if he 
could see anything of the kind ; yes, he, too, plainly saw the 
moving light, but presently it disappeared. 

Two hours after midnight a cannon was fired from the 
foremost vessel. It was the glad signal that the long- 
looked-for land was actually in sight. There it lay di- 
rectly ahead, about six miles away. 




Map showing the direction in which Columbus sailed on his great voyage across the ocean. 



Then Columbus gave the order to furl sails, and the 
three vessels came to a stop and waited for the dawn. 
When the sun rose on Friday, October I2th, 1492, Co- 
lumbus saw a beautiful island with many trees growing 
on it. That was his first sight of the New World. 

13. Columbus lands on the island and names it; who lived 
on the island. — Attended by the captains of the other two 
vessels, and by their crews, Columbus set out in a boat for 
the island. When they landed, all fell on their knees, 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 




Landing of Columbus. 



kissed the ground for joy, and gave thanks to God. Colum- 
bus named the island San Salvador^ and took possession of 
it, by right of discovery, for the king and queen of Spain. 

He found that it was inhabited by a copper-colored 
people who spoke a language he could not understand. 
These people had never 
seen a ship or a white 
man before. They wore 
no clothing, but painted 
their bodies with bright 
colors. The Spaniards 
made them presents of 
strings of glass beads and 
red caps. In return they 
gave the Spaniards skeins 
of cotton yarn, tame parrots, and small ornaments of gold. 

After staying here a short time Columbus set sail toward 
the south, in search of more land and in the hope of find- 
ing out where these people got their gold. 

14. Columbus names the group of islands and their people. — 
As Columbus sailed on, he saw many islands in every direc- 
tion. He thought that they must be a part of the Indies 
which he was seeking. Since he had reached them by 
coming west from Spain, he called them the West Indies, 
and to the red men who lived on them he gave the name 
of Indians. 

15. Columbus discovers two very large islands ; his vessel is 
wrecked, and he returns to Spain in another. — In the course 
of the next six weeks Columbus discovered the island of 
Cuba. At first he thought that it must be Japan, but 
afterward he came to the conclusion that it was not an 
island at all, but part of the mainland of Asia. 

1 San Salvador (San Sal-va-dor') : meaning the Holy Redeemer or Saviour. 



10 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



Next, he came to the island of Hayti/ or San Domingo.^ 
Here his ship was wrecked. He took the timber of the 
wreck and built a fort on the shore. Leaving about forty 
of his crew in this fort, Columbus set sail for Palos in one 
of the two remaining vessels. 

16. Columbus arrives at Palos; joy of the people; how 
Ferdinand and Isabella received him. — When the vessel of 
Columbus was seen entering the harbor of Palos, the whole 
village was wild with excitement. More than seven months 
had gone by since he sailed away from that port, and as 
nothing had been heard from him, many supposed that 
the vessels and all on board were lost. Now that they 
saw their friends and neighbors coming back, all was joy. 
The bells of the churches rang a merry peal of welcome ; 
the people thronged the streets, shouting to each other that 
Columbus, the great navigator, had crossed the " Sea of 
Darkness " and had returned in safety. 

The king and queen were then in the city of Barcelona,^ 

a long distance from 
Palos. To that city Co- 
lumbus now went. He 
entered it on horseback, 
attended by the proud- 
est and richest noble- 
men of Spain. He 
brought with him six 
Indians from the West 
Indies. They were gaily 
painted and wore bright 
feathers in their hair. 
Then a number of men followed, carrying rare birds and 

1 Hayti (Ha'ti). 2 gan Domingo (San Do-min'go) ; see map on page ii. 

3 Barcelona (Bar-se-16'na) ; see map on page 8. 




Columbus received by the King and Queen 
OF Spain. 



CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. 



plants, with gold and silver ornaments, all found in the New 
World. These were presents for the king and queen. 
Ferdinand and Isabella received Columbus with great 
honor. When he had told them the story of his wonder- 
ful voyage, they sank on their knees and gave praise to 
God : all who were present followed their example. 

17. The last voyages of Columbus. — Columbus made three 
more voyages across the Atlantic. He discovered more 
islands near the coast of America, and he touched the 
coast of Central America and of South America, but that 
was all. He never set foot on any part of what is now 




The light parts of this map show how much of America Columbus discovered. 
(The long island is Cuba; the large one to the right is San Domingo.) 

the United States, and he always thought that the land 
he had reached was part of Asia. He had found a new 
world, but he did not know it : all that he knew was how 
to get to it and how to show others the way. 

18. Columbus in his old age. — The last days of this great 
man were very sorrowful. The king was disappointed 
because he brought back no gold to amount to anything. 
The Spanish governor of San Domingo hated Columbus, 
and when he landed at that island on one of his voyages, 
he arrested him and sent him back to Spain in chains. 



12 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY 



He was at once set at liberty ; but he could not forget the 
insult. He kept the chains hanging on the wall of his 
room, and asked to have them buried with him. 

Columbus was now an old man ; his health was broken, 
he was poor, in debt, and without a home. Once he wrote 
to the king and queen, saying, '' I have not a hair upon me 
that is not gray, my body is weak, and all that was left to 
me . . . has been taken away and sold, even to the coat 
which I wore." 

Not long after he had come back to Spain to stay, the 
queen died. Then Columbus felt that he had lost his best 
friend. He gave up hope, and said, " I have done all that 
I could do : I leave the rest to God." 

19. His death and burial. — Columbus died full of disap- 
pointment and sorrow — perhaps it would not be too much 
to say that he died of a broken heart. 

He was at first buried in Spain ; then 
his body was taken up and carried to 
San Domingo, where he had wished to 
be buried. Whether it rests there to-day, 
or whether it was carried to Havana ^ and 
deposited in the cathedral or great church 
of that city, no one can positively say. But 
wherever the grave of the great sailor may 
be, his memory will live in every heart ca- 
pable of respecting a brave man; for he 
first dared to cross the " Sea of Darkness," 
and he discovered America. 

20. Summary. — In 1492 Christopher Columbus set sail 
from Spain to find a direct way across the Atlantic to 
Asia and the Indies. He did not get to Asia ; but he 
did better; he discovered America. He died thinking 




Monument to Colum- 
bus, 

(In the Cathedral of 
Havana, Cuba.) 



1 Havana (Ha-van'ah) : a city of Cuba. 



JOHN CABOT. 



13 



that the new lands he had found were part of Asia ; but 
by his daring voyage he first showed the people of 
Europe how to get to the New World. 

When and where was Columbus born ? What did he do when he was fourteen ? 
What about his sea-fight ? What did he do in Lisbon ? How much of the world 
was then known ? How did Columbus think he could reach Asia and the Indies ? 
Why did he want to go there ? What did he try to do in Portugal ? Why did he 
go to Spain ? Where did he first go in Spain ? How did Columbus get help 
at last ? When did he sail ? What happened on the first part of the voyage ? 
What happened after that ? What is said about signs of land ? What about the 
discovery of land ? What did Columbus name the island ? What did he find on 
it ? What is said of other islands ? What is said of the return of Columbus to 
Spain ? What about the last voyages of Columbus ? Did he ever land on any part 
of what is now the United States ? What about his old age ? What is said of his 
death and burial ? 



J^^C 



JOHN CABOT 



(Lived in England from 1472-1498). 

21. John Cabot discovers the continent of North America. 

— At the time that Columbus set out on his first voyage 
across the Atlantic in 1492, John Cabot, an Italian mer- 
chant, was living in the city of Bristol,^ England. When 
the news reached that city 
that Columbus had dis- 
covered the West Indies, 
Cabot begged Henry the 
Seventh, king of Eng- 





C A V, 



Map showing the city of Venice, Italy, where 
John Cabot had lived. 



land, to let him see if he 

could not find a shorter 

way to the Indies than that 

of Columbus. The king gave his consent, and in the 

spring of 1497 John Cabot, with his son Sebastian,^ who 

seems to have been born in Bristol, sailed from that port. 

They headed their vessels toward the northwest ; by going 



Cabot (Cab'ot). 



2 See map on page 40. 3 Sebastian (Se-bast'yan). 



H 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 




Ml J Land' 

gy^.-'-,^ ^^ ; Rirst Seen 



in that direction they hoped to get to those parts of 

Asia and the Spice Islands which were known to Europe, 

and which Columbus had failed to reach. 

Early one bright morning toward the last of June, 1497, 
they saw land in the west. It was 
probably Cape Breton^ Island, a 
part of Nova Scotia.^ John Cabot 
named it "The Land First Seen." 
Up to this time Columbus had dis- 
covered nothing but the West In- 
dia Islands, but John Cabot now 
saw the continent of North Amer- 
ica ; no civilized man ^ had ever 

seen it before. There it lay, a great, lonely land, shaggy 

with forests, with not a house or a human being in sight. 
22. John Cabot takes possession of the country for the king 

of England. — Cabot went on shore with his son and some 

of his crew. In the vast, silent wilderness they set up a 

large cross. Near to it they 

planted two flag-poles, and 

hoisted the English flag on 

one and the flag of Venice,* 

the city where John Cabot 

had lived in Italy, on the 

other. Then they took pos- 
session of the land for Henry 

the Seventh. It was in this 

way that the English came to consider that the eastern 

1 Breton (Bret'on). 2 Nova Scotia (No'vah Sko'she-a), 

3 The Northmen : an uncivilized people of Norvv^ay and Denmark discovered 
the continent of North America about five hundred years before Cabot did. 
Nothing came of this discovery, and when Cabot sailed, no one seems to have 
known anything about what the Northmen had done so long before. 

4 Venice (Ven'is). 




JOHN CABOT. 15 

coast of North America was their property, although they 
did not begin to make settlements here until nearly a hun- 
dred years later. 

23. John Cabot and his son return to Bristol. — After sail- 
mg about the Gulf of St. Lawrence without finding the 
passage through to Asia for which they were looking, the 
voyagers returned to England. 

The king was so pleased with what John Cabot had dis- 
covered that he made him a handsome present ; and when 
the captain, richly dressed in silk, appeared in the street, 
the people of Bristol would *' run after him like mad " and 
hurrah for the " Great Admiral," as they called him. 

24. What the Cabots carried back to England from Amer- 
ica. — The Cabots carried back to England some Indian 
traps for catching game and perhaps some wild turkeys — 
an American bird the English had then never seen, but 
whose acquaintance they were not sorry to make. They 
also carried over the rib of a whale which they had found 
on the beach in Nova Scotia. 

Near where the Cabots probably lived in Bristol there is 
a famous old church.^ It was built long before the discov- 
ery of America, and Queen Elizabeth said that it was the 
most beautiful building of its kind in all England. In that 
church hangs the rib of a whale. It is believed to be the 
one the Cabots brought home with them. It reminds all 
who see it of that voyage in 1497 by which England got 
possession of a very large part of the continent of North 
America. 

25. The second voyage of the Cabots ; how they sailed 
along the eastern shores of North America. — About a year 
later the Cabots set out on a second voyage to the west. 
They reached the gloomy cliffs of Labrador ^ on the north- 

1 The church of St. Mary Redcliffe. 2 Labrador (Lab'ra-dor). 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 




eastern coast of America, and they passed many immense 
icebergs. They saw numbers of Indians dressed in the 
skins of wild beasts, and polar bears white as snow. These 

bears were great swimmers, 



and would dive into the sea 
and come up with a large 
fish in their claws. As it 
did not look to the Cabots 
as if the polar bears and 
the icebergs would guide 
them to the warm countries 
of Asia and the Spice Is- 
lands, they turned about and 
went south. They sailed 
along what is now the east- 
ern coast of the United 
States for a very long dis- 
tance ; but not finding any 
passage through to the countries they were seeking, they 
returned to England. 

The English now began to see what an immense extent 
of land they had found beyond the Atlantic. They could 
not tell, however, whether it was a continent by itself or a 
part of Asia. Like everybody in Europe, they called it 
the New World, but all that name really meant then was 
simply the New Lands across the sea. 

26. How the New World came to be called America. — 
But not many years after this the New World received 
the name by which we now call it. An Italian navigator 
whose first name was Amerigo ^ made a voyage to it 
after it had been discovered by Columbus and the Cabots. 

1 Amerigo (A-ma-ree'go) : his full name was Amerigo Vespucci (A-ma-ree'go 
Ves-poot'chee), or, as he wrote it in Latin, Americus Vespucius. 



Map showing how much of the continent of 
North America was discovered by the 
Cabots. 



PONCE DE LEON. — BALBOA. 1/ 

He wrote an account of what he saw, and as this was the 
first printed description of the continent, it was named 
from him, AMERICA. 

27. Summary. — In 1497 John Cabot and his son, from 
Bristol, England, discovered the mainland or continent of 
North America, and took possession of it for England. 
The next year they came over and sailed along the eastern 
coast of what is now the United States. 

An Italian whose first name was Amerigo visited the 
New World afterward and wrote the first account of the 
mainland which was printed. For this reason the whole 
continent was named after him, AMERICA. 

Who was John Cabot ? What did he try to do ? Who sailed with him ? 
What land did they see ? Had Columbus ever seen it ? What did Cabot do 
when he went on shore ? What is said of his return to Bristol ? What did the 
Cabots carry back to England ? What is said about the second voyage of the 
Cabots ? How did the New World come to be called America ? 

PONCE DE LEON,^ BALBOA,^ AND DE SOTO^ 

(Period of Discovery, 1513-1542). 

28. The magic fountain ; Ponce de Leon discovers Florida ; 
Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean. — The Indians on the 
West India Islands believed that there was a wonderful 
fountain in a land to the west of them. They said that if 
an old man should bathe in its waters, they would make 
him a boy again. Ponce de Leon, a Spanish soldier who 
was getting gray and wrinkled, set out to find this magic 
fountain, for he thought that there was more fun in being 
a boy than in growing old. 

1 Ponce de Leon (Pon'thay day La-on') or, in English, Pons de Lee'on. Many 
persons now prefer the English pronunciation of all these Spanish names. 

2 Balboa (Bal-b5'ah). 3 De Soto (Da So'to). 



1 8 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

He did not find the fountain, and so his hair grew 
grayer than ever and his wrinkles grew deeper. But in 
1 5 13 he discovered a land bright with flowers, which he 
named Florida.^ He took possession of it for Spain. 

The same year another Spaniard, named Balboa, set out 
to explore the Isthmus of Panama.^ One day he climbed 
to the top of a very high hill, and discovered that vast 
ocean — the greatest of all the oceans of the globe — which 
we call the Pacific. 

29. De Soto discovers the Mississippi. — Long after Balboa 
and Ponce de Leon were dead, a Spaniard named De Soto 
landed in Florida and marched through the country in 
search of gold mines. 






r-*? 






Burial of De Soto. 

In the course of his long and weary wanderings, he came 
to a river more than a mile across. The Indians told him 
it was the Mississippi, or the Great River. In discovering 
it, De Soto had found the largest river in North America ; 
he had also found his own grave, for he died shortly after, 
and was secretly. buried at midnight in its muddy waters. 

1 Florida: this word means flowery; the name was given by the Spaniards 
because they discovered the country on Easter Sunday, which they call Flowery 
Easter. ^ Panama (Pan-a-mah'^. 



DE SOTO. 



19 



30. The Spaniards build St. Augustine ; ^ we buy Florida 
in 1819. — More than twenty years after the burial of De 
Soto, a Spanish soldier named Menendez^ went to Florida 
and built a fort on the eastern coast. This was in 1565. 
The fort became the centre of a settlement named St. 
Augustine. It is the oldest city built by white men, not 
only in what is 
now the United 
States, but in all 
North America. 

In 1 8 19, or more 
than two hundred 
and fifty years 
after St. Augus- 



tine was begun, 





'I 

Ml _Ol Is 






Old Spanish Gateway at St. Augustine. 
(Called the " City Gate.") 



Spain sold Flor- 
ida to the United 
States. 
31. Summary. — 

Ponce de Leon 
discovered Flor- 
ida ; another Spaniard, named Balboa, discovered the Pa- 
cific ; still another, named De Soto, discovered the Missis- 
sippi. In 1565 the Spaniards began to build St. Augus- 
tine in Florida. It is the oldest city built by white men 
in the United States or in all North America. 

What is said about a magic fountain ? What did Ponce De Leon do ? What 
is said about Balboa ? What about De Soto ? What did Menendez do in Florida ? 
What is said of St. Augustine ? 



1 St. Augustine (Sant Aw'gus-teen'). 



2 Menendez (Ma-nen'deth). 



20 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH 



(1552-1618). 



32. Walter Raleigh sends two ships to America; how the 
Indians received the Englishmen. — Although John Cabot 
discovered the continent of North America in 1497 and 
took possession of the land for the English,^ yet the Eng- 
lish themselves did not try to settle here until nearly a 
hundred years later. 

Then (1584) a young man named Walter Raleigh, who 
was a great favorite of Queen Elizabeth's, sent out two 
ships to America. The captains of these vessels landed on 
Roanoke^ Island, on the coast of 
what is now the state of North Car- 
olina. They found the island cov- 
ered with tall red cedars and with 
vines thick with clusters of wild 
grapes. The Indians called this 
place the " Good Land." They were 
pleased to see the Englishmen, and 
they invited them to a great feast of 
roast turkey, venison,^ melons, and 
nuts. 

33. Queen Elizabeth names the country Virginia ; first 
settlers; what they sent Walter Raleigh. — When the two 
captains returned to England, Queen Elizabeth — the 
** Virgin Queen," as she was called — was delighted with 
what she heard of the "Good Land." She named it 
Virginia in honor of herself. She also gave Raleigh a 
title of honor. From that time he was no longer called 








1 Raleigh (Raw'li). 2 gee page 14. 

'' Venison (ven'i-zon or ven'zon) : deer meat. 



3 Roanoke (Ro-a-nok'). 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 21 

plain Walter Raleigh or Mr. Raleigh, but Sir Walter 
Raleigh. 

Sir Walter now (1585) shipped over emigrants^ to settle 
in Virginia. They sent back to him as a present two fa- 
mous American plants — one called Tobacco, the other the 
Potato. The queen had given Sir Walter a fine estate in 
Ireland, and he set out both the plants in his garden. The 
tobacco plant did not grow very well there, but the potato 
did ; and after a time thousands of farmers began to raise 
that vegetable, not only in Ireland, but in England too. 
As far back then as that time — or more than three hun- 
dred years ago — America was beginning to feed the peo- 
ple of the Old World. 

34. The Virginia settlement destroyed. — Sir Walter spent 
immense sums of money on his settlement in Virginia, but 
it did not succeed. One of the settlers, named Dare, had 
a daughter born there. He named her Virginia Dare. 
She was the first English child born in America. But the 
little girl, with her father and mother and all the rest of 
the settlers, disappeared. It is supposed that they were 
either killed by the Indians or that they wandered away 
and starved to death ; but all that we really know is that 
not one of them was ever seen again. 

35. Last days of Sir Walter Raleigh. — After Queen Eliza- 
beth died, King James the First became ruler of England. 
He accused Sir Walter of trying to take away his crown so 
as to make some one else ruler over the country. Sir Walter 
was sent to prison and kept there for many years. At last 
King James released him in order to send him to South 
America to get gold. When Sir Walter returned to Lon- 
don without any gold, the greedy king accused him of 

^ Emigrants: persons who leave one country to go and settle in another. 
Thousands of emigrants from Europe now land in this country every month. 



22 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY 



having disobeyed him because he had fought with some 
Spaniards. Raleigh was condemned to death and be- 
headed. 

But Sir Walter's attempt to settle Virginia led other 

Englishmen to try. Before 
he died they built a town, called 
Jamestown, on the coast. We 
shall presently read the history 
of that town. The English 
held Virginia from that time 
until it became part of the 
United States. 

36. Summary. — Sir Walter 
Raleigh sent over men from 
England to explore the coast 
of America. Queen Elizabeth 
named the country they visited Virginia. Raleigh then 
shipped emigrants over to make a settlement. These 
emigrants sent him two American plants, Tobacco and the 
Potato ; and in that way the people of Great Britain and 
Ireland came to like both. Sir Walter's settlement failed, 
but his example led other Englishmen to try to make one. 
Before he was beheaded they succeeded. 




i 






The First Pipe of Tobacco. 

(Raleigh's servant thought his master 
was on fire.) 



What is said about Walter Raleigh ? What is said about the Indians ? What 
name did Queen Elizabeth give to the country ? What did she do for Walter 
Raleigh ? What did Sir Walter then do ? What American plants did the emi- 
grants send him ? What did he do with those plants ? What happened to the 
Virginia settlement ? What is said of the last days of Sir Walter Raleigh ? Did 
Sir Walter's attempt to settle Virginia do any good ? 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 



23 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH 



(1579-1631). 

37. New and successful attempt to make a settlement in 
Virginia ; Captain John Smith. — One of the leaders in the 
new expedition sent out to make a settlement in Virginia, 
while Raleigh was in prison, was Captain John Smith. 
He began life as a clerk in England. Not liking his work, 
he ran away and turned soldier. After many strange 
adventures, he was captured by the Turks and sold as a 
slave. His master, who was a Turk, riveted a heavy iron 
collar around his neck and 
set him to thrashing grain 
with a big wooden bat like 
a ball-club. One day the 
Turk rode up and struck 
his slave with his riding- 
whip. This was more than 
Smith could bear; he 
rushed at his master, and 
with one blow of his bat 
he knocked his brains out. 
He then mounted the dead 
man's horse and escaped. 
After a time he got back 
to England ; but as England seemed a little dull to Cap- 
tain Smith, he resolved to join some emigrants who were 
going to Virginia. 

38. What happened to Captain Smith on the voyage; the 
landing at Jamestown ; what the settlers wanted to do ; Smith's 
plan. — On the way to America, Smith was accused of 
plotting to murder the chief men among the settlers so 




Captain John Smith. 



24 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

that he might make himself " King of Virginia." The 
accusation was false, but he was put in irons and kept a 
prisoner for the rest of the voyage. 

In the spring of 1607 the emigrants reached Chesapeake ^ 
Bay, and sailed up a river which they named the James in 
honor of King James of England ; when they landed they 
named the settlement Jamestown for the same reason. 
Here they built a log fort, and placed 
three or four small cannon on its walls. 
Most of the men who settled James- 
town came hoping to find mines of gold 
in Virginia, or else a way through to 
the Pacific Ocean and to the Indies, 
which they thought could not be very 
far away. But Captain Smith wanted 
to help his countrymen to make homes here for themselves 
and their children. 

39. Smith's trial and what came of it; how the settlers 
lived ; the first English church ; sickness ; attempted deser- 
tion. — As soon as Captain Smith landed, he demanded to 
be tried by a jury^ of twelve men. The trial took place. 
It was the first English court and the first English jury 
that ever sat in America. The captain proved his inno- 
cence and was set free. His chief accuser was condemned 
to pay him a large sum of money for damages. Smith 
generously gave this money to help the settlement. 

As the weather was warm, the emigrants did not begin 
building log cabins at once, but slept on the ground, shel- 
tered by boughs of trees. For a church they had an old 

1 Chesapeake (Ches'a-peek). 

'^ Jury: a number of men, generally twelve, selected according to law to try a 
case in a court of law; in criminal cases they declare the person accused to be 
either guilty or not guilty. 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 2^ 

tent, in which they met on Sunday. They were all mem- 
bers of the Church of England, or the Episcopal Church, 
and that tent was the first place of worship that we know 
of which was opened by Englishmen in America. 

When the hot weather came, many fell sick. Soon the 
whole settlement was like a hospital. Sometimes three or 
four would die in one night. Captain Smith, though not 
well himself, did everything he could for those who needed 
his help. 

When the sickness was over, some of the settlers were 
so discontented that they determined to seize the only 
vessel there was at Jamestown and go back to England. 
Captain Smith turned the cannon of the fort against them. 
The deserters saw that if they tried to leave the harbor 
he would knock their vessel to pieces, so they came back. 
One of the leaders of these men was tried and shot ; the 
other was sent to England in disgrace. 

40. The Indians of Virginia. — When the Indians of 
America first met the white men, they were very friendly 
to them ; but this did not last long, because often the 
whites treated the Indians very badly ; in fact, the Span- 
iards made slaves of them and whipped many of them to 
death. But these were the Indians of the south ; some of 
the northern tribes were terribly fierce and a match for the 
Spaniards in cruelty. 

The Indians at the east did not build cities, but lived in 
small villages. These villages were made up of huts, 
covered with the bark of trees. Such huts were called 
wigwams. The women did nearly all the work, such as 
building the wigwams and hoeing corn and tobacco. The 
men hunted and made war. Instead of guns the Indians 
had bows and arrows. With these they could bring down 
a deer or a squirrel quite as well as a white man could now 



26 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY 




Building a Wigwam. 



with a rifle. They had no iron, but made hatchets and 

knives out of sharp, flat stones. They never built roads, 

for they had no wagons, 
and at the east they did 
not use horses ; but they 
could find their way with 
ease through the thick- 
est forest. When they 
came to a river they 
swam across it, so they 
had no need of bridges. 
For boats they made 
canoes of birch bark. 

These canoes were almost as light as paper, yet they were 

very strong and handsome, and they 

" floated on the river 
Like a yellow leaf in autumn, 
Like a yellow water-lily." ^ 

In them they could go hundreds of miles quickly and 
silently. So every river and stream became a roadway to 
the Indian. 

41. Captain Smith goes in search of the Pacific ; he is 
captured by Indians. — After that first long, hot summer 
was over, some of the settlers wished to explore the coun- 
try and see if they could not find a short way through to 
the Pacific Ocean. Captain Smith led the expedition. 
The Indians attacked them, killed three of the men, and 
took the captain prisoner. To amuse the Indians, Smith 
showed them his pocket compass. When the savages saw 
that the needle always pointed toward the north they were 
greatly astonished, and instead of killing their prisoner 



Longfellow's Hiawatha (Hiawatha's Sailing). 




CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 2/ 

they decided to take him to their chief. This chief was 
named Powhatan. ^ He was a tall, grim- 
looking old man, and he hated the settlers 
at Jamestown, because he believed that they 
had come to steal the land from the Indians, pocket compass. 

42. Smith's life is saved by Pocahontas ; ^ her marriage to 
John Rolfe.^ — Smith was dragged into the chief's wigwam ; 
his head was laid on a large, flat stone, and a tall savage 
with a big club stood ready to dash out his brains. Just 
as Powhatan was about to cry '* strike ! " his daughter 
Pocahontas, a girl of twelve or thirteen, ran up, and, put- 
ting her arms round the prisoner's head, she laid her own 
head on his — now let the Indian with his uplifted club 
strike if he dare.* 

Instead of being angry with his daughter, Powhatan 
promised her that he would spare Smith's life. When an 
Indian made such a promise as that he kept it, so the 
captain knew that his head was safe. Powhatan released 
his prisoner and soon sent him back to Jamestown, and 
Pocahontas, followed by a number of Indians, carried to 
the settlers presents of corn and venison. 

Some years after this the Indian maiden married John 
Rolfe, an Englishman who had come to Virginia. They 
went to London, and Pocahontas died not far from that 
city. She left a son ; from that son came some noted 
Virginians. One of them was John Randolph. He was a 
famous man in his day, and he always spoke with pride 
of the Indian princess, as he called her. 

43. Captain Smith is made governor of Jamestown ; the gold- 
diggers ; "Corn, or your life." — More emigrants came over 
from England, and Captain Smith was now made governor 



1 Powhatan (Pow-ha-tan'). 2 Pocahontas (Po-ka-hon'tas). 3 Rolfe (Rolf). 
4 On Pocahontas, see List of Books on page 222. 



28 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



of Jamestown. Some of the emigrants found some glitter- 
ing earth which they thought was gold. Soon nearly every 
one was hard at work digging it. Smith laughed at them ; 
but they insisted on loading a ship with the worthless stuff 
and sending it to London. That was the last that was 
heard of it. 

The people had wasted their time digging this shining 
dirt when they should have been hoeing their gardens. 
Soon they began to be in great want of food. The cap- 
tain started off with a party of men to buy corn of the 
Indians. The Indians contrived a cunning plot to kill the 

whole party. Smith luckily found 
it out; seizing the chief by the 
hair, he pressed the muzzle of a 
pistol against his heart and gave 
him his choice, — ** Corn, or your 
life ! " He got the corn, and 
plenty of it. 

44. " He who will not work shall 
not eat." — Captain Smith then set 
part of the men to planting corn, 
so that they might raise what they needed. The rest of the 
settlers he took with him into the woods to chop down 
trees and saw them into boards to send to England. 
Many tried to escape from this labor; but Smith said. Men 
who are able to dig for gold are able to chop ; then he 
made this rule: "He who will not work shall not eat." 
Rather than lose his dinner, the laziest man now took 
his axe and set off for the woods. 

45. Captain Smith's cold-water cure. — But though the 
choppers worked, they grumbled. They liked to see the 
chips fly and to hear the great trees " thunder as they 
fell," but the axe-handles raised blisters on their fingers. 




Corn, or youk Life! 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 29 

These blisters made the men swear, so that often one 
would hear an oath for every stroke of the axe. Smith 
said the swearing must be stopped. He had each man's 
oaths set down in a book. When the day's work was done, 
every offender was called up ; his oaths were counted ; 
then he was told to hold up his right hand, and a can of 
cold water was poured down his sleeve for each oath. This 
new style of water cure did wonders ; in a short time not 
an oath was heard: it was just chop, chop, chop, and the 
madder the men got, the more the chips would fly. 

46. Captain Smith meets with an accident and goes back to 
England ; his return to America ; his death. — Captain Smith 
had not been governor very long when he met with a ter- 
rible accident. He was out in a boat, and a bag of gun- 
powder he had with him exploded. He was so badly hurt 
that he had to go back to England to get proper treatment 
for his wounds. 

He returned to America a number of years later, ex- 
plored the coast north of Virginia, and gave it the name of 
New England, but he never went back to Jamestown again. 
He died in London, and was buried in a famous old church 
in that city.^ 

47. What Captain Smith did for Virginia. — Captain John 
Smith was in Virginia less than three years, yet in that 
short time he did a great deal. First, he saved the settlers 
from starving, by making the Indians sell them corn. Next, 
by his courage, he saved them from the attacks of the sav- 
ages. Lastly, he taught them how to work. Had it not 
been for him the people of Jamestown would probably 
have lost all heart and gone back to England. He insisted 
on their staying, and so, through him, the English got their 
first real foothold in America. But this was not all ; he 

1 The church of St. Sepulchre: it is not very far from St. Paul's Cathedral. 



30 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 




A Settler's Log Cabin. 



wrote two books on Virginia, describing the soil, the trees, 

the animals, and the In- 
^ . dians. He also made 

some excellent maps of 
Virginia and of New 
England. These books 
and maps taught the 
English people many 
things about this coun- 
try, and helped those 
who wished to emigrate. 
For these reasons Cap- 
tain Smith has rightfully 
been called the " Father 
of Virginia." 

48. Negro slaves sent to Virginia; tobacco. — About ten 
years after Captain Smith left Jamestown, the commander 
of a Dutch ship brought a number of negro slaves to Vir- 
ginia (1619), and sold them to the settlers. That was the 
beginning of slavery in this country. Later, when other 
English settlements had been made, they bought slaves, 
and so, after a time, every settlement north as well as south 
owned more or less negroes. The people of Virginia em- 
ployed most of their slaves in raising tobacco. They sold 
this in England, and, as it generally brought a good price, 
many of the planters ^ became quite rich. 

49. Bacon's war against Governor Berkeley ;2 Jamestown 
burned. — Long after Captain Smith was in his grave. Sir 
William Berkeley was made governor of Virginia by the 
king of England. He treated the people very badly. At 



1 Planter : a person who owns a plantation or large farm at the South ; it is cul- 
tivated by laborers living on it; once these laborers were generally negro slaves. 

2 Berkeley (Berk'li). 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 3 1 

last a young planter named Bacon raised a small army 
and marched against the governor, who was in James- 
town. The governor, finding that he had few friends to 
fight for him, made haste to get out of the place. Bacon 
then entered it with his men ; but as he knew that, 
if necessary, the king would send soldiers from Eng- 
land to aid the governor 
in getting it back, he set 
fire to the place and 
burned it. It was never 
built up again, and so only 
a crumbling church -tower 
and a few gravestones can 
now be seen where James- 
town once stood. Those 
ruins mark the first Eng- 
lish town settled in Amer- 
ica. 

50. What happened later in Virginia ; the Revolution ; Wash- 
ington; four presidents. — But though Jamestown was de- 
stroyed, Virginia kept growing in strength and wealth. 
What was better still, the country grew in the number of its 
great men. The king of England continued to rule America 
until, in 1776, the people of Virginia demanded that inde- 
pendence should be declared. The great war of the Rev- 
olution overthrew the king's power and made us free. "The 
military leader of that war was a Virginia planter named 
George Washington. 

After we had gained the victory and peace was made, 
we chose presidents to govern the country. Four out of 
six of our first presidents, beginning with Washington, 
came from Virginia. For this reason that state has some- 
times been called the " Mother of Presidents." 




The Burning of Jamestown. 



32 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

51. Summary. — In 1607 Captain John Smith, with others, 
made the first lasting settlement built up by Englishmen 
in America. Through Captain Smith's energy and cour- 
age, Jamestown, Virginia, took firm root. Virginia was 
the first state to demand the independence of America, 
and Washington, who was a Virginian, led the war of the 
Revolution by which that independence was gained. 

What can you tell about Captain John Smith before he went to Virginia ? 
What happened to him on his way to Virginia ? What is said about the landing 
of the settlers in Virginia ? What did they want to do ? What did Captain Smith 
want to do ? What about Captain Smith's trial ? What is said about the church 
in Jamestown ? What happened to the settlers ? What did some of them try to 
do ? Who stopped them ? Tell what you can about the Indians. What kind of 
houses did they live in ? Did they have guns ? Did they have iron hatchets and 
knives ? Did they have horses and wagons ? What kind of boats did they have ? 
What happened to Captain Smith when he went in search of the Pacific ? What 
did Pocahontas do ? What is said about her afterward ? What about the gold- 
diggers ? How did Captain Smith get corn ? What did he make the settlers do ? 
What is said about Captain Smith's cold-water cure ? Why did Captain Smith go 
back to England ? What three things did he do for Virginia ? What about his 
books and maps ? What is said of negro slaves ? What about tobacco ? What 
about Governor Berkeley and Mr. Bacon ? What happened to Jamestown ? 
What did the war of the Revolution do ? Who was its great military leader ? 
Why is Virginia sometimes called the " Mother of Presidents " ? 



CAPTAIN HENRY HUDSON 

(Voyages from 1607 to 1611). 

52. Captain Hudson tries to find a northwest passage to 
China and the Indies. — When Captain John Smith sailed for 
Virginia, he left a friend, named Henry Hudson, in Lon- 
don, who had the name of being one of the best sea-cap- 
tains in England. 

While Smith was in Jamestown, a company of London 
merchants sent out Captain Hudson to try to discover a 
passage to China and the Indies. When he left England, 
he sailed to the northwest, hoping that he could find a way 



CAPTAIN HENRY HUDSON. 



33 




Map showing how Captain Hudson hoped to reach 
Asia by sailing northwest from England. 



open to the Pacific across the North Pole or not far be- 
low it. 

If he found such a pas- 
sage, he knew that it 
would be much shorter 
than a voyage round the 
globe further south; be- 
cause, as any one can see, 
it is not nearly so far 
round the top of an apple, 
near the stem, as it is 
round the middle. 

Hudson could not find 
the passage he was look- 
ing for ; but he saw 
mountains of ice, and he went nearer to the North Pole 
than any one had ever done before. 

53. The Dutch hire Captain Hudson; he sails for America. 
— The Dutch people in Holland had heard of Hudson's 
voyage, and a company of merchants of that country hired 
the brave sailor to see if he could find a passage to Asia 
by sailing to the northeast. 

He set out from the port of Amsterdam, ^ in 1609, 
in a vessel named the Half Moon. After he had gone 
quite a long distance, the sailors got so tired of seeing 
nothing but fog and ice that they refused to go any 
further. 

Then Captain Hudson turned his ship about and sailed 
for the coast of North America. He did that because his 
friend, Captain Smith of Virginia, had sent him a letter, 
with a map, which made him think that he could find such 
a passage as he wanted north of Chesapeake Bay. 



1 See map on page 40. 



34 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



54. Captain Hudson reaches America and 
finds the "Great River." — Hudson got to 
Chesapeake Bay, but the weather was so 
stormy that he thought it would not be 
safe to enter it. He therefore sailed 
northward along the coast. In Septem- 
ber, 1609, he entered a beautiful bay, 
formed by the spreading out of a noble 
river. At that point the stream is more 
than a mile wide, and he called it the 
"Great River." On the eastern side of 
it, not far from its mouth, there is a long 
narrow island : the Indians of that day 
called it Manhattan Island. 

55. The tides in the " Great River " ; Cap- 
tain Hudson begins to sail up the stream. — 
One of the remarkable things about the 
river which Hudson had discovered is 
that it has hardly any current, and the 
tide from the ocean moves up for more 
than a hundred and fifty miles. If no 
fresh water ran in from the hills, still the 
sea would fill the channel for a long dis- 
tance, and so make a kind of salt-water 
river of it. Hudson noticed how salt it 
was, and that, perhaps, made him think 
that he had at last actually found a pas- 
sage which would lead him through from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific. He was de- 
lighted with all he saw, and said, " This 
is as beautiful a land as one can tread 
upon." Soon he began to sail up the 
stream, wondering what he should see 



CAPTAIN HENRY HUDSON. 



35 



and whether he should come out on an ocean which would 
take him to Asia. 

56. Hudson's voyage on the "Great River" ; his feast with 
the Indians. — At first he drifted along, carried by the tide, 
under the shadow of a great natural wall of rock. That 
wall, which we now call the Palisades,^ is from four hundred 
to six hundred feet high ; it extends for nearly twenty miles 
along the western shore of the river. 




The Palisades. 

Then, some distance further up, Captain Hudson came 
to a place where the river breaks through great forest-cov- 
ered hills, called the Highlands. At the end of the fifth 
day he came to a point on the eastern bank above the 
Highlands, where the city of Hudson now stands. Here 
an old Indian chief invited him to go ashore. Hudson had 
found the Indians, as he says, *' very loving," so he thought 
he would accept the invitation. The savages made a great 
feast for the captain. They gave him not only roast 
pigeons, but also a roast dog, which they cooked specially 
for him : they wanted he should have the very best. 

1 Palisades : this name is given to the wall of rock on the Hudson, because, 
when seen near by, it somewhat resembles a palisade, or high fence made of stakes 
or posts set close together, upright in the ground. 



36 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



These Indians had never seen a white man before. 
They thought that the EngHsh captain, in his bright 
scarlet coat trimmed with gold lace, had come down from 
the sky to visit them. What puzzled them, however, was 
that he had such a pale face instead of having a red one 
like themselves. 

At the end of the feast Hudson rose to go, but the In- 
dians begged him to stay all night. Then one of them 
got up, gathered all the arrows, broke them to pieces, and 
threw them into the fire, in order to show the captain that 
he need not be afraid to stop with them. 



A 



\x,v.-\ 



X\^\ 










Captain Hudson on the Great River. 



57. Captain Hudson reaches the end of his voyage and turns 
back ; trouble with the Indians. — But Captain Hudson made 
up his mind that he must now go on with his voyage. He 
went back to his ship and kept on up the river until he 
had reached a point about a hundred and fifty miles from 



CAPTAIN HENRY HUDSON. 3/ 

its mouth. Here the city of Albany now stands. He 
found that the water was growing shallow, and he feared 
that if the Half Moon went further she would get aground. 
It was clear to him, too, that wherever the river might lead, 
he was not likely to find it a short road to China. 

On the way down stream a thievish Indian, who had 
come out in a canoe, managed to steal something from the 
ship. One of the crew chanced to see the Indian as he 
was slyly slipping off, and picking up a gun he fired and 
killed him. After that Hudson's men had several fights 
with the Indians. 

58. Hudson returns to Europe ; the " Great River " is called 
by his name ; his death. — Early in October the captain set 
sail for Europe. Ever since that time the beautiful river 
which he explored has been called the Hudson in his 
honor. 

The next year Captain Hudson made another voyage, 
and entered that immense bay in the northern part of 
America which we now know as Hudson Bay. There he 
got into trouble with his men. Some of them seized him 
and set him adrift with a few others in an open boat. 
Nothing more was ever heard of the brave English sailor. 
The bay which bears his name is probably his grave. 

59. The Dutch take possession of the land on the Hudson 
and call it New Netherland; how New Netherland became 
New York. — As soon as the Dutch in Holland heard that 
Captain Hudson had found a country where the Indians 
had plenty of rich furs to sell, they sent olit people to 
trade with them. Holland is sometimes called the Nether- 
lands ; that is, the Low Lands. When the Dutch took 
possession of the country on the Hudson (1614), they gave 
it the name of New Netherland,^ for the same reason that 

1 New Netherland : this is often incorrectly printed New Netherlands. 



38 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

the English called one part of their possessions in Amer- 
ica New England. In the course of a few years the Dutch 
built (1615) a fort and some log cabins on the lower end of 
Manhattan Island. After a time they named this little 
settlement New Amsterdam, in remembrance of the port 
of Amsterdam in Holland from which Hudson sailed. 

After the Dutch had held the country of New Nether- 
land about fifty years, the English (1664) seized it. They 
changed its name to New York, in honor of the Duke of 
York, who was brother to the king. The English also 
changed the name of New Amsterdam to that of New 
York City. 

60. The New York "Sons of Liberty" in the Revolution; 
what Henry Hudson would say of the city now. — More than 
a hundred years after this the young men of New York, 
the " Sons of Liberty," as they called themselves, made 
ready with the "Sons of Liberty" in other states to do 
their full part, under the lead of General Washington, in 
the great war of the Revolution, — that war by which we 
gained our freedom from the rule of the king of England, 
and became the United States of America. 

The silent harbor where Henry Hudson saw a few 
Indian canoes is now one of the busiest seaports in the 
world. The great statue of Liberty stands at its en- 
trance.^ To it a fleet of ships and steamers is constantly 
coming from all parts of the globe ; from it another fleet 
is constantly going. If Captain Hudson could see the river 
which bears his name, and Manhattan Island now cov- 
ered with miles of buildings which make the largest and 
wealthiest city in America, he would say : There is no need 
of my looking any further for the riches of China and the 
Indies, for I have found them here. 

1 In her right hand Liberty holds a torch to guide vessels at night. 



CAPTAIN MYLES STANDISH. 39 

61. Summary. — In 1609 Henry Hudson, an English sea- 
captain, then in the employ of the Dutch, discovered the 
river now called by his name. The Dutch took possession 
of the country on the river, named it New Netherland, and 
built a small settlement on Manhattan Island. Many years 
later the English seized the country and named it New 
York. The settlement on Manhattan Island then became 
New York City ; it is now the largest and wealthiest city 
in the United States. 

Who was Henry Hudson ? What did he try to find ? What did the Dutch 
hire him to do ? Where did he go ? What did he call the river he discovered ? 
What is said about that river ? Tell what you can of Hudson's voyage up the river. 
What is said about the Indians ? Why did Hudson turn back ? What did he do 
then ? What is the river he discovered called now ? What happened to Captain 
Hudson the next year ? What did the Dutch do ? What did they name the 
country ? Why ? What did they build there on Manhattan Island ? Who seized 
New Netherland ? What name did they give it ? What is said of the " Sons oi 
Liberty " ? What would Hudson say if he could see New York City now ? 



CAPTAIN MYLES^ STANDISH 

(1584-1656). 

62. The English Pilgrims in Holland ; why they left Eng- 
land. — When the news of Henry Hudson's discovery of 
the Hudson River reached Holland, many Englishmen 
were living in the Dutch city of Leyden.^ These people 
were mostly farmers who had fled from Scrooby ^ and 
neighboring villages in the northeast of England. They 
called themselves Pilgrims, because they were wanderers 
from their old homes. 

The Pilgrims left England because King James would 

^ Myles (Miles) : Standish himself wrote it Myles. 
- Leyden (Li'den) : see map on page 40. 
^ Scrooby (Skroo'bi) : see map on page 40. 



40 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 




not let them hold their religious meetings in peace. He 
thought, as all kings then did, that everybody in England 

should belong to the 
same church and wor- 
ship God in the same 
way that he did.^ He 
was afraid that if 
people were allowed 
to go to whatever 
church they thought 
best that it would 
lead to disputes and 
quarrels, which would 
end by breaking his kingdom to pieces. Quite a number 
of Englishmen, seeing that they could not have religious 
liberty at home, escaped with their wives and children to 
Holland; for there the Dutch were willing to let them 
have such a church as they wanted. 

63. Why the Pilgrims wished to leave Holland and go to 
America. —But the Pilgrims were not contented in Holland. 
They saw that if they staid in that country their children 
would grow up to be more Dutch than English. They 
saw, too, that they could not hope to get land in Holland. 
They resolved therefore to go to America, where they 
could get farms for nothing, and where their children 
would never forget the English language or the good old 
English customs and laws. There in the wilderness they 
could build up a new settlement which would be certainly 
their own. 



1 There were some people in England who thought much as the Pilgrims did in 
regard to religion, but who did not then leave the Church of England (as the Pil- 
grims did). They were called Puritans because they insisted on making certain 
changes in the English mode of worship, or, as they said, they wished to purify it. 



CAPTAIN MYLES STANDISH. 



41 



Novem- 
land. 



64. The Pilgrims, with Captain Myles Standish, sail for 
England and then for America ; they reach Cape Cod, and 
choose a governor there. — In 1620 a company of Pilgrims 
sailed for England on their way to America. Captain 
Myles Standish, an English soldier, who had fought in 
Holland, joined them. He did not belong to the Pilgrim 
church, but he had become a great friend to those who did. 

About a hundred of these people sailed from Plymouth,^ 
England, for the New World, in the ship Mayflowei^ Many 
of those who went were children and young people. The 
Pilgrims had a long, rough passage across the Atlantic. 
Toward the last of 
ber (1620) they saw 
It was Cape Cod, that nar- 
row strip of sand, more than 
sixty miles long, which looks 
like an arm bent at the el- 
bow, with a hand like a half- 
shut fist. 

Finding that it would be 
difficult to go further, the 
Pilgrims decided to land and 
explore the cape ; so the 
Mayflower entered Cape 

Cod Harbor, inside the half-shut fist, and then came to 
anchor. 

Before they landed, the Pilgrims held a meeting in the 
cabin, and drew up an agreement in writing for the gov- 
ernment of the settlement. They signed the agreement, 
and then chose John Carver for governor. 

Many Puritans came to New England with Governor Winthrop in 1630; after they 
settled in America they established independent churches Hke the Pilgrims. 
1 Plymouth (Plim'uth). 




42 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



65. Washing-day ; what Standish and his men found on the 
Cape. — On the first Monday after they had reached the 
cape, all the women went on shore to wash, and so Monday 
has been kept as washing-day in New England ever since. 
Shortly after that, Captain Myles Standish, with a number 
of men, started off to see the country. They found some 





An Indian Deer-Trap. 



Bradford Caught. 



Indian corn buried in the sand ; and a little further on a 
young man named William Bradford, who afterward became 
governor, stepped into an Indian deer-trap. It jerked him 
up by the leg in a way that must have made even the 
Pilgrims smile. 

66. Captain Standish and his men set sail in a boat for a 
blue hill in the west, and find Plymouth Rock ; Plymouth 
Harbor ; landing from the Mayflower. — On clear days the 
people on board the Mayjioivcr, anchored in Cape Cod 
Harbor, could see a blue hill, on the mainland, in the west, 
about forty miles away. To that blue hill Standish and 
some others determined to go. Taking a sail-boat, they 
started off. A few days later they passed the hill which the 
Indians called Manomet,^ and entered a fine harbor. There, 
on December 2ist, 1620, — the shortest day in the year, — 
they landed on that famous stone which is now known all 
over the world as Plymouth Rock. 

Standish, with the others, went back to the Mayjlozver 
with a good report. They had found just what they wanted, 
— an excellent harbor where ships from England could 



1 Manoniet (Man'o-met). 



CAPTAIN MYLES STANDISH. 



43 



come in ; a brook of nice drinking-water ; and last of all, 
a piece of land that was nearly free from trees, so that 
nothing would hinder their planting corn early in the 
spring. Captain John Smith of Virginia^ had been there 
before them, and had named the place Plymouth on his 
map of New England. The Pilgrims liked the name, and 




The MayJio%ver in Plymouth Harbor. 

so made up their minds to keep it. The Mayfloiver soon 
sailed for Plymouth, and the Pilgrims set to work to build 
the log cabins of their little settlement. 

67, Sickness and death. — During that winter nearly half 
the Pilgrims died. Captain Standish showed himself to 
be as good a nurse as he was a soldier. He, with Governor 
Carver and their minister. Elder Brewster, cooked, washed, 
waited on the sick, and did everything that kind hearts 



1 See page 29. 



44 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

and willing hands could to help their suffering friends. 
But the men who had begun to build houses had to stop 
that work to dig graves. When these graves were filled, 
they were smoothed down flat so that no prowling Indian 
should count them and see how few white men there were 
left. 

68. Samoset,! Squaiito,^ and Massasoit ^ visit the Pilgrims. 
— One day in the spring the Pilgrims were startled at see- 
ing an Indian walk boldly into their little settlement. He 
cried out in good English, " Welcome ! Welcome ! " This 
visitor was named Samoset ; he had met some sailors years 
before, and had learned a few English words from them. 

The next time Samoset came he brought with him 
another Indian, whose name was Squanto. Squanto was 
the only one left of the tribe that had once lived at Ply- 
mouth. All the rest had died of a dreadful sickness, or 
plague. He had been stolen by some sailors and carried 
to England ; there he had learned the language. After 
his return he had joined an Indian tribe that lived about 
thirty miles further west. The chief of that tribe was 
named Massasoit, and Squanto said that he was coming 
directly to visit the Pilgrims. 

In about an hour Massasoit, with some sixty warriors, 
appeared on a hill just outside the settlement. The Indi- 
ans had painted their faces in their very gayest style — 
black, red, and yellow. If paint could make them hand- 
some, they were determined to look their best. 

69. Massasoit and Governor Carver make a treaty of 
friendship ; how Thanksgiving was kept ; what Squanto did 
for the Pilgrims. — Captain Standish, attended by a guard 
of honor, went out and brought the chief to Governor 

1 Samoset (Sam'o-set). 2 Squanto (Skwon'to). 3 Massasoit (Mas'sa-soif ). 



CAPTAIN MYLES STANDISH. 



45 




Captain Standish and Massasoit. 



Carver. Then Massasoit and the governor made a solemn 
promise or treaty, in which they agreed that the Indians 
of his tribe and the Pil- 
grims should live like 
friends and brothers, doing 
all they could to help each 
other. That promise was 
kept for more than fifty 
years ; it was never bro- 
ken until long after the 
two men who made it were 
in their graves. 

When the Pilgrims had their first Thanksgiving, they 
invited Massasoit and his men to come and share it. The 
Indians brought venison and other good things ; there 
were plenty of wild turkeys roasted ; and so they all sat 
down together to a great dinner, and had a merry time in 
the wilderness. 

Squanto was of great help to the Pilgrims. He showed 
them how to catch eels, where to go fishing, when to plant 
their corn, and how to put a fish in e^-ery hill to make it 
grow fast. ' «^ 

After a while he came to live with the Pilgrims. He 
liked them so much that when the poor fellow died he 
begged Governor Bradford to pray that he might go to the 
white man's heaven. 

70. Canonicus ^ dares Governor Bradford to fight ; the pali- 
sade ; the fort and meeting-house. — West of where Massa- 
soit lived, there were some Indians on the shore of Narra- 
gansett Bay,^ in what is now Rhode Island. Their chief 
was named Canonicus, and he was no friend to either 



1 Canonicus (Ka-non'i-kus). 



2 Narragansett (Nar'a-gan'set). 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



'^^ 



Massasoit or to the Pilgrims. Canonicus 
thought he could frighten the white men 
away, so he sent a bundle of sharp, new ar- 
rows, tied round with a rattlesnake skin, to 
Governor Bradford : that meant that he dared 
the governor and his men to come out and 
fight. Governor Bradford threw away the 
arrows, and then filled the snake-skin full up 
to the mouth with powder and ball. This 
was sent back to Canonicus. When he saw 
it, he was afraid to touch it, for he knew that 
Myles Standish's bullets would whistle louder 
and cut deeper than his Indian arrows. 

But though the Pilgrims did not believe 
that Canonicus would attack them, they 
thought it best to build a very high, strong 
fence, called a palisade, round the town. 

They also built a log fort on one of 
the hills, and used the lower part of the 
fort for a church. Every Sunday all the 
people, with Captain Standish at the head, 
marchea to their meeting-house, where a 
man stood on guard outside. Each Pil- 
grim carried his gun, and set it down near 
him. With one ear he listened sharply to 
the preacher; with the other he listened 
for the cry, Indians ! Indians ! But the In- 
dians never came. 

71. The new settlers ; trouble with the Indians 
in their neighborhood ; Captain Standish's fight 
with the savages. — By and by more emigrants 
came from England and settled about twenty- 
five miles north of Plymouth, at what is now 



CAPTAIN MYLES STANDISH. 



47 



vf^J^^. 



called Weymouth. The Indians in that neighborhood did 
not like these new settlers, and they made up their minds 
to come upon them suddenly and murder them. 

Governor Bradford sent Captain Standish with a few 
men, to see how great the danger was. He found the 
Indians very bold. One of them came up to him, whet- 
ting a long knife. He held it up, to show how sharp it 
was, and then patting it, he 
said, " By and by, it shall eat, 
but not speak." Presently 
another Indian came up. He 
was a big fellow, much larger 
and stronger than Standish. 
He, too, had a long knife, as 
keen as a razor. " Ah," said 
he to Standish, " so this is 
the mighty captain the white 
men have sent to destroy 
us ! He is a little man ; let him go and work with the 
women." ^ 

The captain's blood was on fire with rage ; but he said 
not a word. His time had not yet come. The next day 
the Pilgrims and the Indians met in a log cabin. Standish 
made a sign to one of his men, and he shut the door fast. 
Then the captain sprang like a tiger at the big savage 
who had laughed at him, and snatching his long knife 
from him, he plunged it into his heart. A hand-to-hand 
fight followed, between the white men and the Indians. 
The Pilgrims gained the victory ; and they carried back 







The Palisade built round Plymouth. 



1 See Longfellow's The Courtship of Miles Standish. This quotation is truth- 
ful in its rendering of the spirit of the words used by the Indian in his insulting 
speech to Standish ; it should be understood, however, that the poem does not 
always adhere closely either to the chronology, or to the exact facts, of history. 



48 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

the head of the Indian chief in triumph to Plymouth. 
Captain Standish's bold action saved both of the English 
settlements from destruction. 

72. What else Myles Standish did ; his death. — But Stand- 
ish did more things for the Pilgrims than fight for them ; 
for he went to England, bought goods for them, and bor- 
rowed money to help them. 

He lived to be an old man. At his death he left, among 
other things, three well-worn Bibles and three good guns. 
In those days, the men who read the Bible most were 
those who fought the hardest. 

Near Plymouth there is a high hill called Captain's 
Hill. That was where Standish made his home during 
the last of his life. A granite monument, over a hundred 




Myles Standish's Kettle, Sword, Copy of Myles Standish's 

AND Pewter Dish. Signature. 

feet high, stands on top of the hill. On it is a statue of 
the brave captain looking toward the sea. He was one 
of the makers of America. 

73. Governor John Winthrop founds ^ Boston. — Ten years 
after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, a large company 
of English people under the leadership of Governor John 
Winthrop came to New England. They were called Puri- 
tans,2 and they, too, were seeking that religious freedom 
which was denied them in the old country. One of the 
vessels which brought over these new settlers was named 

1 Founds: begins to build. 

2 See note on page 40. 



CAPTAIN .MYLES STANDISH. 49 

the Mayflower. She may have been the very ship which 
in 1620 brought the Pilgrims to these shores. 

Governor Winthrop's company named the place where 
they settled Boston, in grateful remembrance of the beau- 
tiful old city of Boston/ England, from which some of the 
chief emigrants came. The new settlement was called 
the Massachusetts Bay^ Colony,'^ Massachusetts being the 
Indian name for the Blue Hills, near Boston. The 
Plymouth Colony was now often called the Old Colony, 
because it had been settled first. After many years, these 
two colonies were united, and still later they became the 
state of Massachusetts. 

74. How other New England colonies grew up ; the Revo- 
lution. — By the time Governor Winthrop arrived, English 
settlements had been made in Maine, New Hampshire, 
and in the country which afterward became the state of 
Vermont. Connecticut and Rhode Island were first settled 
by emigrants who went from Massachusetts. 

When the Revolution broke out, the people throughout 
New England took up arms in defence of their rights. 
The first blood of the war was shed on the soil of Massa- 
chusetts, near Boston. 

75. Summary. — The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, New 
England, in 1620. One of the chief men who came with 
them was Captain Myles Standish. Had it not been for 
his help, the Indians might have destroyed the settlement. 
In 1630, Governor John Winthrop, with a large company 
of emigrants from England, settled Boston. Near Boston 
the first battle of the Revolution was fought. 

1 Boston, England; see map on page 40. 

2 Massachusetts Bay ; see map on page 57. 

3 Colony: here a company of settlers who came to America from England, and 
who were subject to the king of England, as all the English settlers of America were 
until the Revolution. 



50 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

Why did some Englishmen in Holland call themselves Pilgrims ? Why had 
they left England ? Why did they now wish to go to America ? Who was Myles 
Standish ? From what place in England, and m what ship, did the Pilgrims sail ? 
What land did they first see in America ? What did they do at Cape Cod Harbor ? 
What did the Pilgrims do on the Cape ? Where did they land on December 21st, 
1620 ? What happened during the winter ? What is said of Samoset ? What 
about Squanto ? What about Massasoit ? What did Massasoit and Governor 
Carver do ? What about the first Thanksgiving ? What is said about Canonicus 
and Governor Bradford ? What did the Pilgrims build to protect them from the 
Indians ? What is said about Weymouth ? What did Myles Standish do there ? 
What else did Myles Standish do besides fight ? What is said of his death ? 
What did Governor John Winthrop do ? What did the people of New England 
do in the Revolution ? Where was the first blood shed ? 



i>^00- 



LORD BALTIMORE 
(I 580-1 632;. 

76. Lord Baltimore's settlement in Newfoundland ; how 
Catholics were then treated in England. — While Captain 
Myles Standish was helping build up Plymouth, Lord 
Baltimore, an English nobleman, was trying to make a 
settlement on the cold, foggy island of Newfoundland. 

Lord Baltimore had been brought up a Protestant, but 
had become a Catholic. At that time. Catholics were 
treated very cruelly in England. They were ordered by 
law to attend the Church of England. They did not like 
that church any better than the Pilgrims did ; but if they 
failed to attend it, they had to take their choice between 
paying a large sum of money or going to prison. 

Lord Baltimore hoped to make a home for himself and 
for other English Catholics in the wilderness of New- 
foundland, where there would be no one to trouble them. 
But the unfortunate settlers were fairly frozen out. • They 
had winter a good share of the year, and fog all of it. 
They could raise nothing, because, as one man said, the 
soil was either rock or swamp : the rock was as hard as 



LORD BALTIMORE. 51 

iron ; the swamp was so deep that you could not touch 
bottom with a ten-foot pole. 

77. The king of England gives Lord Baltimore part of Vir- 
ginia, and names it Maryland; what Lord Baltimore paid for 

it. — King Charles the First of England was a good friend 
to Lord Baltimore ; and when the settlement in Newfound- 
land was given up, he made him a present of an immense 
three-cornered piece of land in America. This piece was 
cut out of Virginia, north of the Potomac ^ River. 




The king's wife, who was called Queen Mary, was a 
French Catholic. In her honor, Charles named the country 
he had given Lord Baltimore, Mary Land, or Maryland. 
He could not have chosen a better name, because Mary- 
land was to be a shelter for many English people who 
believed in the same religion that the queen did. 

All that Lord Baltimore was 
to pay for Maryland, with its L. 

twelve thousand square miles j^ "ji'i'^i^ 

of land and water, was two In- "' ^' -''" -s;' f ^rl 
dian arrows. These he agreed ' . '^ .. -^ ' "' ' 



to send every spring to the .-T''''!?i:tJ;C:% -t'"'^-' ''**^"^^' 
royal palace of Windsor ^ Cas- ' ^■2r^i~*f' P^'~^^^ i/^-^ 
tie, near London. '^ 



'L 



The arrows would be worth 

nothing whatever to the king ; ^"'^^ ""' '^^""^"'^ ^"^"^" 

but they were sent as a kind of yearly rent. They 

1 Potomac (Po-to'mak). 2 Windsor (Win'zor). 



52 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY 



showed that, though Lord Baltimore had the use of Mary- 
land, and could do pretty much as he pleased with it, still 
the king did not give up all control of it. In Virginia and 
in New England the king had granted all land to com- 
panies of persons, and he had been particular to tell them 
ju^st what they must or must not do ; but he gave Maryland 
to one man only. More than this, he promised to let Lord 
Baltimore have his own way in everything, so long as he 
made no laws in Maryland which should be contrary to 
the laws of England. So Lord Baltimore had greater 
privileges than any other holder of land in America at 
that time. 

78. Lord Baltimore dies ; his son sends emigrants to 

Maryland ; the land- 
ing ; the Indians ; St. 
Mary's. — Lord Bal- 
timore died before he 
could get ready to 
come to America. 
His eldest son then 
became Lord Balti- 
more. He sent over 
a number of emi- 
grants ; part of them 
were Catholics, and 
part were Protes- 
tants : all of them 
were to have equal 
rights in Maryland. 
In the spring of 1634, 

The Landing in Maryland. i i i i 

these people landed 
on a little island near the mouth of the Potomac River. 
There they cut down a tree, and made a large cross of 




LORD BALTIMORE. 



53 



it ; then, kneeling round that cross, 
prayer to God for their safe journey. 
A Httle later, they landed on the 
There they met Indians. Under a 
they bargained with the Indians for 



they all joined in 

shore of the river, 
huge mulberry-tree 
a place to build a 
town, and paid for the land in hatchets, knives, and 
beads. 

The Indians were greatly astonished at the size of the 
ship in which the white men came. They thought that it 
was made like their canoes, out of the trunk of a tree hol- 
lowed out, and they wondered where the English could 
have found a tree big enough to make it. 

The emigrants named their settlement St. Mary's, be- 
cause they had landed on a day kept 
sacred to the Virgin Mary.^ The 
Indians gave up one of their largest 
wigwams to Father White, one of 
the priests who had come over, and 
he made a church of it. It was the 
first EngHsh Catholic Church which 
was opened in America. 

The Indians and the settlers lived 
and worked together side by side. The red men showed 
the emigrants how to hunt in the forest, and the Indian 
women taught the white women how to make hominy, and 
to bake johnny-cake before the open fire. 

79. Maryland the home of relig^ious liberty. — Maryland 
was different from the other English colonies in America, 
because there, and there only, every Christian, whether 
Catholic or Protestant, had the right to worship God in 
his own way. In that humble little village of St. Mary's, 
made up of thirty or forty log huts and wigwams in the 




1 March 25tb : Annunciation or Lady Day. 



54 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

woods, '' religious liberty had its only home in the wide 
world." 

But more than this, Lord Baltimore generously invited 
people who had been driven out of the other settlements 
on account of their religion to come and live in Maryland. 
He gave a hearty welcome to all, whether they thought as 
he did or not. Thus he showed that he was a noble man 
by nature as well as a nobleman by name. 

80. Maryland falls into trouble ; the city of Baltimore built. 
— But this happy state of things did not last long. Some 
of the people of Virginia were very angry because the king 
had given Lord Baltimore part of what they thought was 
their land. They quarrelled with the new settlers and 
made them a great deal of trouble. 

Then worse things happened. Men went to Maryland 
and undertook to drive out the Catholics. In some cases 
they acted in a very shameful manner toward Lord Balti- 
more and his friends ; among other things, they put Father 
White in irons and sent him back to England as a prisoner. 
Lord Baltimore had spent a great deal of money in build- 
ing up the settlement, but his right to the land was taken 
away from him for a time, and all who dared to defend 
him were badly treated. 

St. Mary's never grew to be much of a place, but not 
quite a hundred years after the English landed there a 
new and beautiful city was begun (1729) in Maryland. It 
was named Baltimore, in honor of that Lord Baltimore 
who sent out the first emigrants. When the Revolution- 
ary War broke out, the citizens of Baltimore showed that 
they were not a bit behind the other colonies of America 
in their spirit of independence. 

81. Summary. — King Charles the First of England gave 
Lord Baltimore, an English Catholic, a part of Virginia and 



ROGER WILLIAMS. 



55 



named it Maryland, in honor of his wife, Queen Mary. A 
company of emigrants came out to Maryland in 1634. It 
was the first settlement in America in which all Christian 
people had entire liberty to worship God in whatever way 
they thought right. That liberty they owed to Lord Balti- 
more. 

Who was Lord Baltimore, and what did he try to do in Newfoundland ? How 
were Catholics then treated in England ? What did the king of England give Lord 
Baltimore in America ? What did the king name the country ? What was Lord 
Baltimore to pay for Maryland ? What did the king promise Lord Baltimore ? 
What did Lord Baltimore's son do ? When and where did the emigrants land ? 
What did they call the place ? What is said about the Indians ? Of what was 
Maryland the home ? Why did some of the people of Virginia trouble them ? 
What is said of the city of Baltimore ? What is said of the Revoludon ? 



3>^C 



ROGER WILLIAMS 



(1600-1684). 



82. Roger Williams comes to Boston ; he preaches in Salem 
and in Plymouth; his , 

friendship for the Indi- 
ans. — Shortly after Gov- 
ernor John Winthrop 
and his company set- 
tled Boston,^ a young 
minister named Roger 
Williams came over 
from England to join 
them. 

Mr. Williams soon be- 
came a 2"reat friend to ^"^ Church in which Roger Williams preached 
^ IN Salem. It is still standing. 

the Indians, and while 




1 See page 48. 



56 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

he preached at Salem, ^ near Boston, and at Plymouth, 
he came to know many of them. He took pains to 
learn their language, and he spent a great deal of time 
talking with the chief Massasoit^ and his men, in their 
dirty, smoky wigwams. He made the savages feel that, 
as he said, his whole heart's desire was to do them good. 
For this reason they were always glad to see him and 
ready to help him. A time came, as we shall presently 
see, when they were able to do quite as much for him 
as he could for them. 

83. Who owned the greater part of America? what the king 
of England thought ; what Roger Williams thought and said. 
— The company that had settled Boston held the land by 
permission of the king of England. He considered that 
most of the land in America belonged to him, because 
John Cabot ^ had discovered it. 

But Roger Williams said that the king had no right 
to the land unless he bought it of the Indians, who were 
living here when the English came. 

Now the people of Massachusetts were always quite 
willing to pay the Indians a fair price for whatever land 
they wanted ; but many of them were afraid to have Mr. 
Williams preach and write as he did. They believed that 
if they allowed him to go on speaking out so boldly against 
the king that the English monarch would get so angry that 
he would take away Massachusetts from them and give it 
to a new company. In that case, those who had settled 
here would lose everything. For this reason the people 
of Boston tried to make the young minister agree to keep 
silent on this subject. 

84. A constable is sent to arrest Roger Williams ; he 
escapes to the woods, and goes to Mount Hope. — But Mr. 

1 Salem (Sa'lem). 2 gee page 44. 3 gee page 14. 



ROGER WILLIAMS. 



57 



Williams was not one of the kind to keep silent. Then 

the chief men of Boston sent a constable down to Salem 

with orders to seize him and send him back to England. 

When he heard that the constable was after him, Mr. 

Williams slipped quietly out of his house and escaped to 

the woods. 

There was a heavy depth of snow on the ground, but 

the young man made up his mind that he would go to his 

old friend Massasoit, and 

ask him to help him in his 

trouble. 

Massasoit lived near Mount 

Hope, in what is now 

Rhode Island, about eighty 

miles southwest from Salem. 

There were no roads through 

the woods, and it was a long, 

dreary journey to make on 

foot, but Mr. Williams did 

not hesitate. He took a 

hatchet to chop fire-wood, a 

flint and steel to strike fire with, — for in those days peo- 
ple had no matches, — and, last of all, a 
pocket-compass to aid him in finding his 
way through the thick forest. 

All day he waded wearily on through 
the deep snow, only stopping now and 
then to rest or to look at his compass 
and make sure that he was going in the 
right direction. At night he would gather 
wood enough to make a little fire to warm 

himself or to melt some snow for drink. Then he would 

cut down a few boughs for a bed, or, if he was lucky 




Map showing Roger Williams's route from 
Salem to Mount Hope. 




Striking fire with flint 
and steel. The 
sparks were caught 
on some old, half- 
burnt rag, and were 
then blown to a 
blaze. 



58 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 




Roger Williams wad- 
ing THROUGH THE 

Snow. 



enough to find a large, hollow tree, he would creep into 

that. There he would fall asleep, while listening to the 
howling of the wind or to the fiercer howl- 
'" ing of the hungry wolves prowling about 

the woods. 

At length, after much suffering from 
cold and want of food, he managed to 
reach Massasoit's wigwam. There the 
big-hearted Indian chief gave him a warm 
welcome. He took him into his poor cabin 
and kept him till spring — there was no 
board bill to pay. All the Indians liked 
the young minister, and even Canonicus, 

that savage chief of a neighboring tribe, who had dared 

Governor Bradford to fight, said that he '* loved him as his 

own son." 

85. Roger Williams at Seekonk;i "What cheer, friend?" 

— When the warm days came, in the spring of 1636, Mr. 

Williams began building a log hut for himself at Seekonk, 

on the east bank of the Seekonk River. But he was told 

that his cabin stood on ground 

owned by the people of Mas- 
sachusetts ; so he, with a few 

friends who had joined him, took 

a canoe and paddled down 

stream to find a new place to 

build. 

'' What cheer, friend .'' what 

cheer.?" shouted some Indians 

who were standing on a rock on 

the western bank of the river. That was the Indian way 

of saying How do you do, and just then Roger Williams 

1 Seekonk (See'konk). 




,-^^^ 



ROGER WILLIAMS. 59 

was right glad to hear it. He landed on what is now 
called " What Cheer Rock," ^ and had a talk with the red 
men. They told him that there was a fine spring of water 
round the point of land a little further down. He went 
there, and liked the spot so much that he decided to stop. 
His friend Canonicus owned the land, and he gladly let 
him have what he needed. Roger Williams believed that 
a kind Providence had guided him to this pleasant place, 
and for this reason he named it PROVIDENCE. 

Providence was the first settlement made in America 
which set its doors wide open to every one who wished to 
come and live there. Not only all Christians, but Jews, 
and even men who went to no church whatever, could go 
there and be at peace. This great and good work was 
done by Roger Williams. Providence grew in time to be 
the chief city in the state of Rhode Island. When the 
Revolution began, every man and boy in the state, from 
sixteen to sixty, stood ready to fight for liberty. 

86. Summary. — Roger Williams, a young minister of 
Salem, Massachusetts, declared that the Indians, and not 
the king of England, owned the land in America. The 
governor of Massachusetts was afraid that if Mr. Williams 
kept on saying these things the king would hear of it 
and would take away the land held by the people of Bos- 
ton and the other settlements. He therefore sent a con- 
stable to arrest the young minister and put him on board a 
ship going back to England. When Mr. Williams knew 
this, he fled to the Indian chief, Massasoit. In 1636 Roger 
Williams began building Providence. Providence was the 
first settlement in America which offered a home to all 
men without asking them anything whatever about their 
religious belief. 

1 " What Cheer Rock " is on the east side of the city of Providence. 



60 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

Who was Roger Williams ? What is said about him and the Indians ? Who 
did Mr. Williams think first owned the land in America ? How did many ot the 
people of Massachusetts feel about Mr. Williams ? What did the chief men of 
Boston do ? What did Mr. Williams do ? Describe his journey to Mount Hope. 
What did Massasoit do for Mr. Williams ? What did Mr. Williams do at See- 
konk ? What happened after that ? Why did he name the settlement Provi- 
dence ? What is said of Providence ? What about the Revolution ? 



KING PHILIP 

(Time of the Indian War, 1675-1676). 

87. Death of Massasoit ; Wamsutta ^ and Philip ; Wamsutta's 
sudden death. — When the Indian chief Massasoit died, the 
people of Plymouth lost one of their best friends. Massa- 
soit left two sons, one named Wamsutta, who became chief 
in his father's place, and the other called Phihp. They 
both hved near Mount Hope, in Rhode Island. 

The governor of Plymouth heard that Wamsutta was 
stirring up the Indians to make war on the whites, and he 
sent for the Indian chief to come to him and give an^ 
account of himself. Wamsutta went, but on his way back 
he suddenly fell sick, and soon after he reached home he 
died. His young wife was a woman who was thought a 
great deal of by her tribe, and she told them that she 
felt sure the white people had poisoned her husband in 
order to get rid of him. This was not true, but the Indi- 
ans believed it. 

88. Philip becomes chief ; why he hated the white men ; 
how the white men had got possession of the Indian lands. — 
Philip now became chief. He called himself " King Philip." 
His palace was a wigwam made of bark. On great occa- 
sions he wore a bright red blanket and a kind of crown 
made of a broad belt ornamented with shells. King Philip 

1 Wamsutta (Wam-sut'ta). 



KING PHILIP. 



hated the white people because, in the first place, he be- 
lieved that they had murdered his brother ; and next, 
because he saw that they were growing stronger in num- 
bers every year, while the Indians were becoming weaker. 




y,: -fe^. ^ ™^ _ % J*^ ,^1 ^ 



The Belt which King Philip wore for a Crown. 

When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Massasoit, 
Philip's father, held all the country from Cape Cod back 
to the eastern shores of Narragansett Bay ; that is, a strip 
about thirty miles wide. The white settlers bought a small 
piece of this land. After a while they bought more, and 
so they kept on until in about fifty years they got nearly 
all of what Massasoit's tribe had once owned. The In- 
dians had nothing left but two little necks of land, which 
were nearly surrounded by the waters of Narragansett Bay. 
Here they felt that they were shut up almost like prisoners, 
and that the white men watched everything that they 
did. 

89. How King Philip felt ; signs of the coming war ; the 
"Praying Indians " ; the murder. — King Philip was a very 
proud man — quite as proud, in fact, as the king of Eng- 
land. He could not bear to see his people losing power. 
He said to himself, if the Indians do not rise and drive 
out the white men, then the white men will certainly drive 
out the Indians. Most of the Indians now had guns, and 
could use them quite as well as the whites could ; so Philip 
thought that it was best to fight. 



62 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



The settlers felt that the war was coming. Some of 
them fancied that they saw the figure of an Indian bow in 
the clouds. Others said that they heard sounds like guns 
fired off in the air, and horsemen riding furiously up and 
down in the sky, as if getting ready for battle. 

But though many Indians now hated the white settlers, 
this was not true of all. A minister, named John Eliot, 
had persuaded some of the red men near Boston to give 
up their religion, and to try to live like the white people. 
These were called " Praying Indians." One of them 
who knew King Philip well told the settlers that Philip's 
warriors were grinding their hatchets sharp for war. Soon 
after, this ''Praying Indian" was found murdered. The 
white people accused three of Philip's men of having killed 
him. They were tried, found guilty, and hanged. 

90. Beginnings of the war at Swansea ; ^ burning of Brook- 
field. — Then Philip's warriors began the war in the summer 

of 1675. Some white 
settlers were going home 
from church in the town 
of Swansea, Massachu- 
setts ; they had been to 
pray that there might 
be no fighting. As they 
walked along, talking 
together, two guns were 
fired out of the bushes. 
One of the white men 
^^^ A^mm "^^^""^^^^ ^ fell dead in the road, and 

another was badly hurt. 
The shots were fired by Indians. This was the way they 
always fought when they could. They were not cowards, 

1 Swansea (Swon'ze). 




KING PHILIP. 



63 



but they did not come out boldly, but would fire from 
behind trees and rocks. Often a white man would be 
killed without even seeing who shot him. 

At first the fighting was mainly in those villages of 
Plymouth Colony which were nearest Narragansett Bay ; 
then it spread to the valley of the Connecticut River 
and the neighborhood. Deerfield, Springfield, Brookfield,^ 
Groton,^ and many other places in Massachusetts were 
attacked. The Indians would creep up stealthily in the 
night, burn the houses, carry off the women and children 
prisoners if they could, 
kill the rest of the in- 
habitants, take their 
scalps home and hang 
them up in their wig- 
wams. 

At Brookfield the set- 
tlers left their houses, 
and gathered in one 
strong house for de- 
fence. The Indians 
burned all the houses 
but that one, and did 
their best to burn that, 
too. They dipped rags in brimstone, such as we make 
matches of, fastened them to the points of their arrows, 
set fire to them, and then shot the blazing arrows into 
the shingles of the roof. When the Indians saw that the 
shingles had caught, and were beginning to flame up, they 
danced for joy, and roared like wild bulls. But the men 
in the house managed to put out the fire on the roof. 
Then the savages got a cart, filled it with hay, set it on 




1 See map on page 62. 



■2 Groton (Graw'ton). 



64 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

fire, and pushed it up against the house. This time they 
thought that they should certainly burn the white people 
out ; but just then a heavy shower came up, and put out 
the fire. A little later, some white soldiers marched into 
the village, and saved the people in the house. 

91. The fight at Hadley ; what Colonel i Goff e 2 did. — At 
Hadley, the people were in the meeting-house when the 
terrible Indian war-whoop ^ rang through the village. 
The savages drove back those who dared to go out against 
them, and it seemed as if the village must be destroyed. 
Suddenly a white-haired old man, sword in hand, appeared 
among the settlers. No one knew who he was; but he 
called to them to follow him, as a captain calls to his men, 
and they obeyed him. The astonished Indians turned 
and ran. When, after all was over, the whites looked for 
their brave leader, he had gone ; they never saw him 
again. Many thought that he was an angel who had been 
sent to save them. But the angel was Colonel Goffe, an 
Englishman, who was one of the judges who had sentenced 
King Charles the First to death during a great war in 
England. He had escaped to America ; and, luckily for 
the people of Hadley, he was hiding in the house of a 
friend in that village when the Indians attacked it. 

92. How a woman drove off an Indian. — In this dreadful 
war with the savages there were times when even the 
women had to fight for their lives. In one case, a woman 
had been left in a house with two young children. She 
heard a noise at the window, and looking up, saw an 
Indian trying to raise the sash. Quick as thought, she 
clapped the two little children under two large brass kettles 

1 Colonel (kur'nel) : the chief officer of a regiment of soldiers. 

2 Goffe (Gof) : and List of Books on page 222. 

3 War-whoop (war-hoop) : a very loud, shrill cry made by the Indians when 
engaged in war, or as a shout of alarm. 



KING PHILIP. 



6s 




which stood near. Then, seizing a shovel-full of red-hot 
coals from the open fire, she stood ready, and just as the In- 
dian thrust his head 
into the room, she 
dashed the coals 
right into his face 
and eyes. With 
a yell of agony 
the Indian let go 
his hold, dropped 
to the ground as 
though he had 
been shot, and ran 
howling to the 
woods. 

93. The great swamp fight ; burning the Indian wigwams ; 
what the Chief Canonchet ^ said. — During the summer and 
autumn of 1675 the Indians on the west side of Narra- 
gansett Bay^ took no open part in King Philip's War. 
But the next winter the white people found that these 
Indians were secretly receiving and sheltering the savages 
who had been wounded in fighting for that noted chief. 
For that reason, the settlers determined to raise a large 
force and attack them. The Indians had gathered in a 
fort on an island in a swamp. This fort was a very dif- 
ficult place to reach. It was built of the trunks of trees 
set upright in the ground. It was so strong that the 
savages felt quite safe. 

Starting very early in the morning, the attacking party 
waded fifteen miles through deep snow. Many of them 
had their hands and feet badly frozen. One of the chief 
men in leading the attack was Captain Benjamin Church 



1 Canonchet (Ka-non'chet). 



2 See map on page 62. 



66 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

of Plymouth ; he was a very brave soldier, and knew all 
about Indian life and Indian fighting. In the battle, he 
was struck by two bullets, and so badly wounded that 
he could not move a step further ; but he made one of his 
men hold him up, and he shouted to his soldiers to go 
ahead. The fight was a desperate one, but at length the 
fort was taken. The attacking party lost more than two 
hundred and fifty men in killed and wounded ; the Indians 
lost as many as a thousand. 

After the battle was .over. Captain Church begged the 
men not to burn the wigwams inside the fort, for there 
were a great number of old men and women and little 
Indian children in the wigwams. But the men were very 
mad against the savages, and would not listen to him. 
They set the wigwams on fire, and burned many of these 
poor creatures to death. 

Canonchet, the chief of the tribe, was taken prisoner. 
The settlers told him they would spare his life if he would 
try to make peace. "No," said he, *'we will all fight to 
the last man rather than become slaves to the white men." 
He was then told that he must be shot. ** I like it well," 
said he. *' I wish to die before my heart becomes soft, or 
I say anything unworthy of myself." 

94. Philip's wife and son are taken prisoners; Philip is 
shot ; end of the war. — The next summer Captain Church, 
with a lot of ■ brisk Bridgewater lads " chased King Philip 
and his men, and took many of the Indians prisoners. 
Among those then taken captive were King Philip's wife 
and his little boy. When Philip heard of it, he cried out, 
*' My heart breaks ; now I am ready to die." He had good 
reason for saying so. It was the custom in England to 
sell such prisoners of war as slaves. Following this cus- 
tom, the settlers here took this boy, the grandson of that 




Indian Attack on a Settle- 
ment. 

The building on the right is 
a block-house, or fort made of 
hewn logs. These block-houses 
were built as places of refuge 
for the settlers, in case of an 
ittack on the town by the In- 



66 



KING PHILIP. 67 

Massasoit ^ who had helped them when they were poor 
and weak, and sold him with his mother. They were sent 
to the Bermuda Islands,^ and there worked to death under 
the hot sun and the lash of the slave-driver's whip. 

Not long after that, King Philip himself was shot. He 
had been hunted like a wild beast from place to place. At 
last he had come back to see his old home at Mount Hope ^ 
once more. There Captain Church found him ; there the 
Indian warrior was shot. His head and hands were cut 
off, — as was then done in England in such cases, — and 
his head was carried to Plymouth and set up on a pole. 
It stood there twenty years. 

King Philip's death brought the war to an end. It had 
lasted a little over a year ; that is, from the early summer of 
1675 to the latter part of the summer of 1676. In that short 
time the Indians had killed between five and six hundred 
white settlers, and had burned thirteen villages to ashes, 
besides partly burning a great many more. The war cost 
so much money that many people were made poor by it ; 
but the strength of the Indians was broken, and they never 
dared to trouble the people of Southern New England 
again. 

95. Summary. — In 1675 King Philip began a great 
Indian war against the people of Southeastern New Eng- 
land. His object was to kill off the white settlers, and get 
back the land for the Indians. He did kill a large num- 
ber, and he destroyed many villages, but in the end the 
white men gained the victory. Philip's wife and child 
were sold as slaves, and he was shot. The Indians never 
attempted another war in this part of the country. 

1 See page 44. 

2 Bermuda (Ber-mu'dah) : the Bermuda Islands are in the Atlantic, north of the 
West India Islands and east of South Carolina; they belong to Great Britain. 

3 See map on page 57. 



68 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



Who was Wamsutta ? What happened to him ? Who was " King Philip " ? 
Why did he hate the white men? What did he say to himself? What is said 
about the " Praying Indians " ? What happened to one of them ? What was done 
with three of Philip's men ? Where and how did the war begin ? To what part of 
the country did it spread ? Tell about the Indian attack on Brookfield, What 
happened at Hadley ? Tell how a woman drove off an Indian. Tell all you can 
about the Great Swamp Fight. What is said about Canonchet ? What is said of 
King Philip's wife and son? What happened to King Philip himself? What is 
said about the war ? 



WILLIAM PENN 



(1644-1718). 

96. King Charles the Second gives William Penn a great 
piece of land, and names it Pennsylvania. — King Charles 

the Second of England owed a 
large sum of money to a young 
Englishman named William 
Penn. The king was fond of 
pleasure, and he spent so much 
money on himself and his 
friends that he had none left 
to pay his just debts. Penn 
knew this ; so he told His Ma- 
jesty that if he would give him a 
piece of wild land in America, 
he would ask nothing more. 
Charles was very glad to settle the account so easily. He 
therefore gave Penn a great territory ^ north of Maryland ^ 
and west of the Delaware River. This territory was nearly 
as large as England. The king named it Pennsylvania, a 
word which means Penn's Woods. At that time the land 
was not thought to be worth much. No one then had dis- 
covered the fact that beneath Penn's Woods there were 

1 Territory : any very large extent of land. 

2 See map on page 69. 




William Penn at the age of 



WILLIAM PENN. 



69 



immense mines of coal and iron, which would one day be 
of greater value than all the riches of the king of England. 

97. William Penn's religion ; what he wanted to do with 
his American land. — Penn belonged to a religious society- 
called the Society of Friends ; to-day they are generally 
spoken of as Quakers. They are a people who try to find 
out what is right by asking their own hearts. They believe 
in showing no more signs of respect to one man than to 
another, and at that time they would not take off their hats 
even to the king himself. 

Penn wanted the land which had been given him here as 
a place where the Friends or Quakers might go and settle. 
A little later the whole of what is now the state of New 
Jersey was bought by Penn and other Quakers for the same 
purpose. We have seen ^ that neither the Pilgrims nor the 
Catholics had any real peace in England. The Quakers 
suffered even more still ; for oftentimes they were cruelly 
whipped, thrown into dark and dirty prisons where many 
died of the bad treatment they received. William Penn 
himself had been shut up in jail 
four times on account of his relig- 
ion ; and though he was no longer 
in such danger, because the king 
was his friend, yet he wanted to 
provide a safe place for others who 
were not so well off as he was. 

98. Penn sends out emigrants to 
Pennsylvania ; he gets ready to go 
himself ; his conversation with the 
king. — Penn accordingly sent out a 
number of people who were anxious 
to settle in Pennsylvania. The next year, 1682, he made 

1 See pages 39 and 50. 




yO THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

ready to sail, himself with a hundred more emigrants. 
Just before he started, he called on the king in his palace 
in London. The king was fond of joking, and he said to 
him that he should never expect to see him again, for he 
thought that the Indians would be sure to catch such a 
good-looking young man as Penn was and eat him. * But, 
Friend Charles,' said Penn, ' I mean to buy the land of 
the Indians, so they will rather keep on good terms with 
me than eat me.' * Buy their lands!' exclaimed the 
king. ' Why, is not the whole of America mine } ' * Cer- 
tainly not,' answered Penn. 'What!' replied the king; 
'didn't my people discover it.-'^ and so haven't I the right 
to it .? ' ' Well, Friend Charles,' said Penn, ' suppose a 
canoe full of Indians should cross the sea and should dis- 
cover England, would that make it theirs } Would you 
give up the country to them } ' The king did not know 
what to say to this ; it was a new way of looking at the 
matter. He probably said to himself. These Quakers are 
a strange people ; they seem to think that even American 
savages have rights which should be respected. 

99. Penn founds ^ the city of Philadelphia ; his treaty^ with 
the Indians ; his visit to them ; how the Indians and the 
Quakers got on together. — When William Penn reached 
America, in 1682, he sailed up the broad and beautiful Del- 
aware River for nearly twenty miles. There he stopped, 
and resolved to build a city on its banks. He gave the 
place the Bible name of Philadelphia,* or the City of 
Brotherly Love, because he hoped that all of its citizens 
would live together like brothers. The streets were 



1 Referring to the discovery of the American continent by the Cabots, sent out 
by Henry the Seventh of England, see page 14, 

2 Founds : begins to build. ^ Treaty : an agreement ; and see page 44. 
4 See Rev. i. 11 and iii. 7. 



WILLIAM PENN. 



71 



named from the trees then growing on the land, and so 
to-day many are still called Walnut, Pine, Cedar, Vine, and 
so on. 

Penn said, *' We intend to sit down lovingly among the 
Indians." On that account, he held a great meeting with 
them under a wide-spreading elm. The tree stood in what 
is now a part of Philadelphia. 
Here Penn and the red men 
made a treaty or agree- 
ment by which they 
promised each other 
that they would live 
together as friends as 
long as the water 
should run in the riv- 
ers, or the sun shine 
in the sky. 

Nearly a hundred 
years later, while the 
Revolutionary War was going on, the British army took 
possession of the city. It was cold, winter weather, and 
the men wanted fire-wood ; but the English general thought 
so much of William Penn that he set a guard of soldiers 
round the great elm, to prevent any one from chopping it 
down. 

Not long after the great meeting under the elm, Penn 
visited some of the savages in their wigwams. They treated 
him to a dinner — or shall we say a lunch.? — of roasted 
acorns. After their feast, some of the young savages 
began to run and leap about, to show the Englishman what 
they could do. When Penn was in college at Oxford he 
had been fond of doing such things himself. The sight 
of the Indian boys made him feel like a boy again ; so he 




Penn making the Treaty with the Indians. 



72 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 




Statue of William Penn. 

(On the Tower of the new City Hall, 
Philadelphia.) 



sprang up from the ground, and 
beat them all at hop, skip, and 
jump. This completely won the 
hearts of the red men. 

From that time, for sixty years, 
the Pennsylvania settlers and the 
Indians were fast friends. The In- 
dians said, " The Quakers are hon- 
est men ; they do no harm ; they 
are welcome to come here." In 
New England there had been, as 
we have seen,^ a terrible war with 
the savages, but in Pennsylvania, 
no Indian ever shed a drop of 
Quaker blood. 

100. How Philadelphia g^rew ; 
what was done there in the Revolu- 
tion ; William Penn's last years 
and death. — Philadelphia grew 
quite fast. William Penn let the 
people have land very cheap, and 
he said to them, " You shall be 
governed by laws of your own 
making." Even after Philadel- 
phia became quite a good-sized 
town, it had no poor-house, for 
none was needed ; everybody 
seemed to be able to take care of 
himself. 

When the Revolution began, the 
people of Pennsylvania and of the 
country north and south of it sent 



1 See page 62. 



WILLIAM PENN. 73 

men to Philadelphia to decide what should be done. This 
meeting was called the Congress, It was held in the old 
State House, a building which is still standing, and in 1776 
Congress declared the United States of America independ- 
ent of England. In the war, the people of Delaware and 
New Jersey fought side by side with those of Pennsylvania. 
William Penn spent a great deal of money in helping 
Philadelphia and other settlements. After he returned to 
England he was put in prison for debt by a rascally fellow 



"rfjj K 



w 






William Penn's Grave at Jordans's Meeting-House, England. 

he had employed. He did not owe the money, and proved 
that the man who said that he did was no better than a 
thief. Penn was released from prison ; but his long con- 
finement in jail had broken his health down. When he 
died, the Indians of Pennsylvania sent his widow some 
beautiful furs, in remembrance of their " Brother Penn," 
as they called him. They said that the furs were to make 
her a cloak, *'to protect her while passing through this 
thorny wilderness without her guide." 

About twenty-five miles west of London, on a country 



74 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

road within sight of the towers of Windsor Castle,^ there 
stands a Friends' meeting-house, or Quaker church. In 
the yard back of the meeting-house WilUam Penn lies 
buried. For a hundred years or more there was no mark 
of any kind to show where he rests ; but now a small stone 
bearing his name points out the grave of the founder of 
the great state of Pennsylvania. 

101. Summary. — Charles the Second, king of England, 
owed William Penn, a young English Quaker, a large sum 
of money. In order to settle the debt, the king gave him 
a great piece of land in America, and named it Pennsyl- 
vania, or Penn's Woods. Penn wished to make a home 
for Quakers in America; and in 1682 he came over, and 
began building the city of Philadelphia. When the Revo- 
lution broke out, men were sent from all parts of the coun- 
try to Philadelphia, to hold a meeting called the Congress. 
In 1776, Congress declared the United States independent. 

To whom did King Charles the Second owe a large sum of money ? How did 
he pay his debt ? What did the king name the country ? What does the name 
mean ? What has been found there ? What is said about the Friends or Quakers ? 
What did Penn want the land here for ? How were the Quakers then treated in 
England ? What did Penn do in 1682 ? Tell what the king said to Penn and what 
Penn replied. What city did Penn begin to build here ? What does Philadelphia 
mean ? What did Penn and the Indians do ? What did the English general do 
about the great elm in the Revolution ? Tell about Penn's dinner with the Indians. 
Did the Indians trouble the Quakers ? What is said of the growth of Philadelphia ? 
What was done there in the Revolution? Tell what you can about Penn's last 
days. Where is he buried ? 

GENERAL JAMES OGLETHORPE^ 

(1696-1785). 

102. The twelve English colonies in America ; General Ogle- 
thorpe makes a settlement in Georgia. — We have seen ^ that 

1 Windsor Castle : see page 51. 2 Oglethorpe (O'gel-thorp). 

3 See page 23. 



GENERAL JAMES OGLETHORPE. 



75 



VIRGINIA 



the first real colony or settlement made in America by the 
English was in Virginia in 1607. By the beginning of 
1733, or in about a hundred and twenty-five years, eleven 
more had been made, or twelve in all. They stretched 
along the seacoast, from the farthest coast of Maine to 
the northern boundary of Florida, which was then owned 
by the Spaniards.^ 

The two colonies farthest south were North Carolina 
and South Carolina. In 1733 James Oglethorpe, a brave 
English soldier, who af- 
terward became General 
Oglethorpe, came over 
here to make a new set- 
tlement. This new one, 
which made just thirteen ^ 
in all, was called Georgia 
in honor of King George 
the Second, who gave a 
piece of land for it, on 
the seacoast, below South 
Carolina. 

103. What it was that 
led General Oglethorpe to make this new settlement. — Gen- 
eral Oglethorpe had a friend in England who was cast into 
prison for debt. There the unfortunate man was so cruelly 
treated that he fell sick and died, leaving his family in 
great distress. 




1 Because the Spaniards had settled it in 1565 ; see page 19. 

2 These thirteen colonies or settlements were : First, the four New England col- 
onies (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island ; Maine 
was then part of Massachusetts, and Vermont was claimed by both New Hampshire 
and New York). Secondly, four middle colonies (New York, New Jersey, Penn- 
sylvania, with Delaware). Thirdly, five southern colonies (Maryland, Virginia, 
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia). 



76 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



The General felt the death of his friend so much that 
he set to work to find out how other poor debtors lived 
in the London prisons. He soon saw that great numbers 
of them suffered terribly. The prisons were crowded and 
filthy. The men shut up in them were ragged and dirty ; 
some of them were fastened with heavy chains, and a good 
many actually died of starvation. 

General Oglethorpe could not bear to see strong men 
killed off in this manner. He thought that if the best of 
them — those who were honest and willing to work — 




Savannah, as General Oglethorpe laid it out in 1733. 

could have the chance given them of earning their living, 
that they would soon do as well as any men. It was to 
help them that he persuaded the king to give the land of 
Georgia. 

104. Building the city of Savannah ; what the people of 
Charleston, South Carolina, did ; a busy settlement ; the alli- 
gators. — General Oglethorpe took over thirty-five families 
to America in 1733. They settled on a high bank of the 



GENERAL JAMES OGLETHORPE. JJ 

Savannah ^ River, about twenty miles from the sea. The 
general laid out a town with broad, straight, handsome 
streets, and with many small squares or parks. He called 
the settlement Savannah from the Indian name of the river 
on which it stands. 

The people of Charleston, South Carolina, were glad to 
have some English neighbors south of them that would 
help them fight the Spaniards of Florida, who hated the 
English, and wanted to drive them out. They gave the 
newcomers a hundred head of cattle, a drove of hogs, and 
twenty barrels of rice. 

The emigrants set to work with a will, cutting down the 
forest trees, building houses, and planting gardens. There 
were no idlers to be seen at Savannah : even the children 
found something to do that was helpful. 

Nothing disturbed the people but the alligators. They 
climbed up the bank from the river to see what was going 
on. But the boys soon taught them not to be too curious. 
When one monster was found impudently prowling round 
the town, they thumped him with sticks till they fairly beat 
the life out of him. After that, the alligators paid no 
more visits to the settlers. 

105. Arrival of some German emigrants ; " Ebenezer " ; ^ 
"blazing" trees. — After a time, some German Protestants, 
who had been cruelly driven out of their native land on 
account of their religion, came to Georgia. General Ogle- 
thorpe gave them a hearty welcome. He had bought land 
of the Indians, and so there was plenty of room for all. 
The Germans went up the river, and then went back a 
number of miles into the woods ; there they picked out 
a place for a town. They called their settlement by the 

1 Savannah (Sa-van'ah). 2 Ebenezer (Eb-e-ne'zer). 



78 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY 



Bible name of Ebenezer,i which means " The Lord hath 
helped us." 

There were no roads through the forests, so the new 
settlers ''blazed" the trees; that is, they chopped a piece 
of bark off, so that they could find 
their way through the thick woods 
when they wanted to go to Savannah. 
Every tree so marked stood like a 
guide-post ; it showed the traveller 
which way to go until he came in 
sight of the next one. 

106. Trying to make silk ; the queen's 
American dress. — The settlers hoped 
to be able to get large quantities of silk 
to send to England, because the mul- 
berry-tree grows wild in Georgia, and 
its leaves are the favorite food of tne 
silk-worm.2 At first it seemed as if 
the plan would be successful, and General Oglethorpe took 
over some Georgia silk as a present to the queen of Eng- 
land. She had a handsome dress made of it for her birth- 
day ; it was the first American silk dress ever worn by an 
English queen. But after a while it was found that silk 
could not be produced in Georgia as well as it could in 
Italy and France, and so in time cotton came to be raised 
instead. 

107. Keeping out the Spaniards ; Georgia powder at Bun- 
ker Hill ; General Oglethorpe in his old age. — The people 
of Georgia did a good work in keeping out the Spaniards, 
who were trying to get possession of the part of the coun- 




The " Blazed" Trees. 



1 See I Sam. vii. 12. 

2 Silkworm : a kind of caterpillar which spins a fine, soft thread of which silk 
is made. 



GENERAL JAMES OGLETHORPE. 79 

try north of Florida. Later, like the settlers in North 
Carolina and South Carolina, they did their part in helping 
to make America independent of the rule of the king of 
England. When the war of the Revolution began, the 
king had a lot of powder stored in Savannah. The people 
broke into the building, rolled out the kegs, and carried 
them off. Part of the powder they kept for themselves, 
and part they seem to have sent to Massachusetts ; so that 
it is quite likely that the men who fought at Bunker Hill 
may have loaded their guns with some of the powder given 
them by their friends in Savannah. In that case the king 
got it back, but in a somewhat different way from what he 
expected. 

General Oglethorpe spent the last of his life in England. 
He lived to a very great age. Up to the last he had eyes 
as bright and keen as a boy's. After the Revolution was 
over, the king made a treaty or agreement, by which he 
promised to let the United States of America live in peace. 
General Oglethorpe was able to read that treaty without 
spectacles. He had lived to see the colony of Georgia 
which he had settled become a free and independent state. 

108. Summary. — In 1733 General James Oglethorpe 
brought over a number of emigrants from England, and 
settled Savannah, Georgia. Georgia was the thirteenth 
English colony ; it was the last one established in this 
country. General Oglethorpe lived to see it become one 
of the United States of America. 

At the beginning of 1733 how many English colonies were there in America ? 
Who was General Oglethorpe ? What did he do ? Why was the new settlement 
called Georgia ? Tell what happened to a friend of General Oglethorpe's. What 
did he wish to do for the poor debtors ? What is said about the settlement of Sa- 
vannah ? What about the German emigrants and Ebenezer ? What about raising 
silk ? What good work did the people of Georgia do ? What about Georgia 
powder in the Revolution ? What is said of General Oglethorpe in old age ? 



8o 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 



( I 706-1 790). 



109. Growth of Philadelphia ; what a young printer was 
doing for it. — By the year 1733, when the people of 
Savannah ^ were building their first log cabins, Philadel- 
phia ^ had grown to be the largest city in this country, 
— though it would take more than seventy such cities to 
make one as great as Philadelphia now is. 

Next to William Penn,^ the person who did the most for 
Philadelphia was a young man who had gone from Boston 
to make his home among the Quakers. He lived in a 
small house near the market. On a board over the door 
he had painted his name and business ; here it is : 

110. Franklin's newspaper and al- 
manac ; '^ how he worked ; standing 
before kings. — Franklin was then 
publishing a small newspaper, called 
the Pcjinsylvania Gazetted To-day 
we print newspapers by steam 
at the rate of two or three hundred 
a minute ; but Franklin, 
standing in his shirt- 
sleeves at a little press, 
printed his with his own hands. It was hard 
work, as you could see by the drops of sweat 
that stood on his forehead; and it was slow '^-^^^^ 
as well as hard. The young man not only wrote himself 
most of what he printed in his paper, but he often made 





1 See page 76. 

2 See page 70. 

3 See page 68. 



4 Almanac (al'ma-nak). 

5 Gazette (ga-zet') : a newspaper. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



8i 



^H 



A Type. 
(The Letter B.) 




Franklin wheeling a Load of 
Paper. 



his own ink ; sometimes he even made his own type.^ 
When he got out of paper he would take a wheelbarrow, 

go out and buy a load, and 

wheel it home. To-day 

there are more than three 

hundred newspapers printed 

in Philadelphia ; then 

there were only two, 

and Franklin's was 
the better of those two. 

Besides this paper he published 
an almanac, which thousands of 
people bought. In it he printed 

such sayings as these : ^^ He zvho zvoiild tJirivc'^ must rise 
at five,'' and ^^ If you zvant a thing zvell done, do it you7'- 
self!' But Franklin was not contented with simply print- 
ing these sayings, for he practised them as well. 

Sometimes his friends would ask him why he began 
work so early in the morning, and kept at it so many 
hours. He would laugh, and tell them that his father used 
to repeat to him this saying of Solomon's : " Scest tJioit 
a 7nan diligent in Ids business ? he shall stajid before kings ; 
he shall not stand before mean men.'' ^ 

At that time the young printer never actually expected 
to stand in the presence of a king, but years later he met 
with five ; and one of them, his friend the king of France, 
gave him his picture set round with diamonds. 

111. Franklin's boyhood ; making tallow candles ; he is 
apprenticed* to Ms brother ; how he managed to save money 

1 Type : the raised metal letters used in printing are made by melting lead and 
some other metals together and pouring the mixture into molds. 

2 Thrive : to get on in business, to prosper. ^ See Prov. xxii. 29. 

■^ Apprenticed : bound by a written agreement to learn a trade of a master, who 
is bound by the same agreement to teach the trade. 



82 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

to buy books. — Franklin's father was a poor man with a 
large family. He lived in Boston, and made soap and 
candles. Benjamin went to school two years; then, when 
he was ten years old, his father set him to work in his 
factory, and he never went to school again. He was now 
kept busy filling the candle-molds with melted grease, 
cutting off the ends of the wicks, and running errands. 
But the boy did not like this kind of work; and, as he 
was very fond of books, his father put him in a printing- 
office. This office was carried on by James Franklin, one 
of Benjamin's brothers. James Franklin paid a small sum 
of money each week for Benjamin's board; but the boy 
told him that if he would let him have half the money to 
use as he liked, he would board himself. James was glad 
to do this. Benjamin then gave up eating meat, and, 
while the others went out to dinner, he would stay in the 
printing-office and eat a boiled potato, or perhaps a handful 
of raisins. In this way, he saved up a number of coppers 
every week ; and when he got enough laid by, he would 
buy a book. 

But James Franklin was not only a mean man, but a 
hot-tempered one ; and when he got angry with his young 
apprentice,^ he would beat and knock him about. At 
length the lad, who was now seventeen, made up his mind 
that he would run away, and go to New York. 

112. Young Franklin runs away ; he goes to New York, 
and then to Philadelphia. — Young Franklin sold some of 
his books, and with the money paid his passage to New 
York by a sailing-vessel — for in those days there were 
no steamboats or railroads in America. When he got to 
New York, he could not find work, so he decided to go on 
to Philadelphia. 

1 Apprentice : one who is apprenticed to a master to learn a trade. See note, page 8i. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



83 




He started to walk across New Jersey to Burlington, on 
the Delaware River, a distance of about fifty miles ; there 
he hoped to get a sail-boat going down the 
river to Philadelphia. Shortly after he set 
out, it began to rain hard, and the lad was 
soon wet to the skin and splashed all over 
with red mud ; but he kept on until noon, 
then took a rest, and on the third day he 
reached Burlington and got passage down 
the river. 

113. Franklin's Sunday walk in Philadel- 
phia ; the rolls ; Miss Read ; the Quaker meet- 
ing-house. — Franklin landed in Philadelphia on Sunday 
morning (1723). He was tired and hungry; he had but 
a single dollar in the world. As he walked along, he saw 
a bake-shop open. He went in and bought three great, 
puffy rolls for a penny ^ each. Then he started up Mar- 
ket Street, where he was one day to have his newspaper 
office. He had a roll like a small loaf of bread tucked 

under each arm, and he was 
eating the other as though 
it tasted good to him. As 
he passed a house, he no- 
ticed a nice-looking young 
woman at the door. She 
seemed to want to laugh ; 
and well she might, for Frank- 
lin appeared like a youthful 
tramp who had been robbing a baker's shop. The young 
woman was a Miss Deborah ^ Read. A number of years 
later Franklin married her. He always said that he could 
not have got a better wife. 




Penny : an English coin worth two cents. 



2 Deborah (Deb'o-rah). 



84 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



Franklin kept on in his walk until he came to the Dela- 
ware. He took a hearty drink of river water to settle his 
breakfast, and then gave away the two rolls he had under 
his arm to a poor woman with a child. On his way back 
from the river he followed a number of people to a Quaker 
meeting-house. At the meeting no one spoke. Franklin 
was tired out, and, not having any preacher to keep him 
awake, he soon fell asleep, and slept till the meeting was 
over. He says, " This was the first house I was in, or 
slept in, in Philadelphia." 

114. Franklin finds work ; he goes back to Boston on a 
visit ; he learns to stoop. — The next day the young man 
found some work in a printing-office. Six months after- 
ward he decided to go back to Boston to see his friends. 
He started on his journey with a good suit of clothes, a 
silver watch, and a well-filled purse. 

While in Boston, Franklin went to call on a minister 
who had written a little book ^ which he had been very 

fond of reading. As he 
was coming away from the 
minister's house, he had 
to go through a low pas- 
sage-way under a large 
beam. '' Stoop ! Stoop ! " 
cried out the gentleman ; 
but Franklin did not un- 
derstand him, and so hit 
his head a sharp knock 
against the beam. ''Ah," 
said his friend, as he saw 
him rubbing his head, "you are young, and have the 

1 The name of this book, written by the Rev. Cotton Mather, was Essays to do 
Good. 




BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 85 

world before you ; stoop as you go through it, and you 
will miss many hard thumps." Franklin says that this 
sensible advice, which was thus beat into his head, was of 
great use afterward ; in fact, he learned then how 1»o stoop 
to conquer. 

115. Franklin returns to Philadelphia ; he goes to London ; 
water against beer. — Franklin soon went back to Philadel- 
phia. The governor of Pennsylvania then persuaded him 
to go to London, telling him that he would help him 
to get a printing-press and type to start a newspaper in 
Philadelphia. 

When Franklin reached London, he found that the gov- 
ernor was one of those men who promise great things, but 
do nothing. Instead of buying a press, he had to go to 
work in a printing-office to earn his bread. He stayed in 
London more than a year. At the office where he worked 
the men were great beer-drinkers. One of his compan- 
ions bought six pints a day. He began with a pint before 
breakfast, then took another pint at breakfast, then a pint 
between breakfast and dinner, then a pint at dinner, then 
a pint in the afternoon, and, last of all, a pint after he had 
done work. Franklin drank nothing but water. The 
others laughed at him, and nicknamed him the '' Water- 
American " ; but after a while they had to confess that he 
was stronger than they were who drank so much strong 
beer. 

The fact was that Franklin could beat them both at 
work and at play. When they went out for a bath in the 
Thames,^ they found that their " Water-American " could 
swim like a fish ; and he so astonished them that a rich 
Londoner tried to persuade him to start a swimming-school 
to teach his sons, but Franklin had stayed in England 

1 Thames (Tems). London is on the river Thames. 



86 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 




long enough, and he now decided to go back to Phila- 
delphia. 

116. Franklin sets up his newspaper ; " sawdust pudding." 

— After his return to America, Franklin labored so dili- 
gently that he was soon able to set up a newspaper of his 
own. He tried to make it a good one. But some people 

thought that he spoke his 
mind too freely. They 
complained of this to him, 
and gave him to under- 
stand that if he did not 
make his paper to please 
them, they would stop tak- 
ing it or advertising in it. 
Franklin heard what 

"■ they had to say, and then 

invited them all to come 
and have supper with him. They went, expecting a 
feast, but they found nothing on the table but two 
dishes of corn-meal mush and a big pitcher of cold water. 
That kind of mush was then eaten only by very poor 
people ; and because it was yellow and coarse, it was nick- 
named " sawdust pudding." 

Franklin gave everybody a heaping plateful, and then, 
filling his own, he made a hearty supper of it. The others 
tried to eat, but could not. After Franklin had finished 
his supper, he looked up, and said quietly, " My friends, 
any one who can live on ' sawdust pudding ' and cold water, 
as I can, does not need much help from others." After 
that, no one went to the young printer with complaints 
about his paper. Franklin, as we have seen,^ had learned 



1 See page 84. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 8/ 

to stoop ; but he certainly did not mean to go stooping 
through life. 

117. Franklin's plan of life ; what he did for Philadelphia. 
— Not many young men can see their own faults, but 
Franklin could. More than that, he tried hard to get rid 
of them. He kept a little book in which he wrote down his 
faults. If he wasted half an hour of time or a shilling of 
money, or said anything that he had better not have said, 
he wrote it down in his book. He carried that book in his 
pocket all his life, and he studied it as a boy at school 
studies a hard lesson. By it he learned three things, — 
first, to do the right thing ; next, to do it at the right time ; 
last of all, to do it in the right way. 

As he was never tired of helping himself to get upward 
and onward, so, too, he was never tired of helping others. 
He started the first public library in Philadelphia, which 
was also the first in America. He set on foot the first fire- 
engine company and the first military company in that 
city. He got the people to pave the muddy streets with 
stone ; he helped to build the first academy, — now called 
the University of Pennsylvania, — and he also helped to 
build the first hospital. 

118. Franklin's experiments ^ with electricity; the wonderful 
bottle ; the picture of the king of England. — While doing 
these things and publishing his paper besides, Franklin 
found time to make experiments with electricity. Very 
little was then known about this wonderful power, but a 
Dutchman, living in the city of Leyden^ in Holland, had 
discovered a way of bottling it up in what is called a 

1 Experiments : here an experiment is a trial made to discover something 
unknown. Franklin made these experiments or trials with electricity and with 
thunder clouds in order to find out what he could about them. 

2 Leyden : see map on page 40. 



88 



THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 



Leyden Jar. Franklin had one of these jars, and he was 
never tired of seeing what new and strange thing he could 
do with it. 

He contrived a picture of the king of England with a 
movable gilt crown on his head. Then he connected the 
crown by a long wire with the Leyden Jar. When he 
.^. wanted some fun he would 

dare any one to go up to 
the picture and take off 
the king's crown. Why 
that's easy enough, a man 
would say, and would walk 
up and seize the crown. 
But no sooner had he 
touched it than he would 
get an electric shock which 
would make his fingers 
tingle as they never tin- 
gled before. With a loud Oh ! Oh ! he would let go of 
the crown, and start back in utter astonishment, not know- 
ing what had hurt him. 

119. The electrical kite. — But Franklin's greatest experi- 
ment was made one day in sober earnest with a kite. He 
believed that the electricity in the bottle, or Leyden Jar, 
was the same thing as the lightning we see in a thunder- 
storm. He knew well enough how to get an electric spark 
from the jar, for he had once killed a turkey with it for 
dinner ; but how could he get a spark from a cloud in the 
sky ? 

He thought about it for a long time ; then he made a 
kite out of a silk handkerchief, and fastened a sharp iron 
point to the upright stick of the kite. One day, when a 
thunder-storm was seen coming up, Franklin and his son 




BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 



89 



went out to the fields. The kite was raised ; then FrankHn 
tied an iron key to the lower end of the string. After 
waiting some time, he saw the little hair-like threads of 
the string begin to stand up like the bristles of a brush. 
He felt certain that the electricity was coming xiown the 
string. He put his knuckle close to the key, and a spark 
flew out. Next, he took 
his Leyden Jar and collec- 
ted the electricity in that. 
He had made two great 
discoveries, for he had 
found out that electricity 
and lightning are the same 
thing and he had also 
found how to fill his bottle 
directly from the clouds : 
that was something that no 
one had ever done before. 

120. Franklin invents the lightning-rod ; Doctor Franklin. 
— But Franklin did not stop at that. He said, If I can 
draw down electricity from the sky with a kite-string, I can 
draw it still better with a tall, sharp-pointed iron rod. He 
put up such a rod on his house in Philadelphia ; it was the 
first lightning-rod in the world. Soon other people began 
to put them up : so this was another gift of his to the 
city which he loved. Every good lightning-rod which has 
since been erected to protect buildings has been a copy of 
that invented by Franklin. 

People now began to talk, not only in this country but 
in Europe, about his electrical experiments and discoveries. 
The oldest college in Scotland ^ gave him a title of honor 
and called him Doctor — a word which means a learned 




1 The University of St. Andrews. 



90 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 




man. From this time, Franklin the printer was no longer 

plain Mr. Franklin, but Dr. Franklin. 

Dr. Franklin did not think that he had found out all 

that could be found out about electricity; he believed that 

he had simply made a beginning, and that other men 
would discover still greater things that 
could be done with it. Do you think he 
was mistaken about that ? 

121. Franklin in the Revolutionary War ; 
Franklin and the map of the United States. — 
When the war of the Revolution broke out, 
Dr. Franklin did a great work for his coun- 
try. He did not fight battles like Washing- 
ton, but he did something just as useful. 

Franklin's Cane and First, he helped writc the Declaration 

Washington's Revo- r t i -i i i • i i i i 

LUTioNARY SwoRD. ©t Indcpendencc, by which we declared 
(Preserved in the Patent oursclvcs frcc from thc rulc of thc king 

Office, Washinsiton.) r x^ i i . i . i x^ 

of England ; next, he went to France to 
get aid for us. We were then too poor to pay our soldiers ; 
he got the king of France to let us have money to give them. 

Franklin lived to see the Revo- 
lution ended and America free. 
When he died, full of years and 
of honors, he was buried in Phil- 
adelphia. Twenty thousand peo- 
ple went to his funeral. 

If you wish to see what the 
country thinks of him, you have 

only to look at a large map of the franklin's Grave in Christ Church 
TT -J. J o^ J. 1^1 Burial-Ground, Philadelphia. 

United States, and count up how 

many times you find his name on it. You will find that 

more than two hundred counties and towns are called 

FRANKLIN. 




GEORGE WASHINGTON. 9 1 

122. Summary. — Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston 
nearly two hundred years ago. He went to Philadelphia 
when he was seventeen. He started a newspaper there, 
opened the first public library, and did many other things 
to help the city. He discovered that lightning and elec- 
tricity are the same thing, and he invented the lightning- 
rod to protect buildings. In the Revolution, he got large 
sums of money from the king of France to pay our soldiers 
and to help Washington fight the battles which ended in 
making America free. 

What had Philadelphia grown to be by 1733 ? Who did a great deal for Phila- 
delphia ? Tell what you can about Franklin's newspaper. What else did he pub- 
lish ? What sayings did he print in his almanac ? What saying of Solomon's did 
Franklin's father use to repeat to him ? Did he ever stand in the presence of any 
kings ? Tell what you can about Franklin as a boy. Where did he live ? What 
did he do ? How did he save money to buy books ? Why did he run away ? 
Where did he go ? Tell what you can about Franklin's landing in Philadelphia ? 
How did Franklin look to Miss Read ? Where did Franklin find work ? What 
happened to him when he went back to Boston on a visit ? Why did Franklin go 
to London ? What did he do there ? What did they nickname him in the printing- 
ofifice ? What did Franklin do after he returned to Philadelphia ? Tell the story 
of the " sawdust pudding." Tell about Franklin's plan of life. What did he do for 
Philadelphia ? What experiments did Franklin make ? What about the picture 
of the king ? Tell the story of the kite. What two things did he find out by means 
of this kite ? What did he invent ? What title did a college in Scotland now give 
him ? Did Franklin think that anything more would be discovered about elec- 
tricity ? What two things did Franklin do in the Revolution ? What is said of his 
funeral ? How many counties and towns in the United States are now called by 
his name ? 



GEORGE WASHINGTON 

(1732-1799)- 

123. A Virginia boy ; what he became ; what he learned 
at school ; his writing-books. — In 1732, when Franklin was 
at work on his newspaper, a boy was born on a plantation ^ 

1 Plantation : George Washington was born on a plantation (or large estate cul- 
tivated by slaves) on Bridges Creek, a small stream emptying into the Potomac. 
See map on page 94. Not long after George's birth (February 22, 1732), his 
father moved to an estate on the Rappahannock River, opposite Fredericksburg. 
See map on page 94 for this place and Mount Vernon. 



92 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

in Virginia who was one day to stand higher even than the 
Philadelphia printer. 

That boy when he grew up was to be chosen leader 
of the armies of the Revolution ; he was to be elected the 
first president of the United States ; and before he died he 
was to be known and honored all over the world. The 
name of that boy was George Washington. 

Washington's father died when George was only eleven 
years old, leaving him, with his brothers and sisters, to the 
care of a most excellent and sensible mother. It was that 
mother's influence more than anything else which made 
George the man he became. 

George went to a little country school, where he learned 
to read, write, and cipher. By the time he was twelve, he 



^J^LoxCjC ' 



Washington's Signature at the Age of 12. 

could write a clear, bold hand. In one of his writing-books 
he copied many good rules or sayings. Here is one : — 

124. Washington's sports 
and games ; playing at war ; ^J^ f^^ oW "^ x^twA^^Jb.^ 
"Captain George." — But d . 8 • 

young Washington was not "^ ^^^ 4^^ o^uULkl ^ 
always copying good say- ^%^,j,r^s^,:^j^.^ 
ings ; for he was a tall, 

1 Celestial : heavenly, divine. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 93 

strong boy, fond of all out-door sports and games. He was 
a well-meaning boy, but he had a hot temper, and at times 
his blue eyes flashed fire. In all trials of strength and in 
all deeds of daring, George took the lead ; he could run 
faster, jump further, and throw a stone higher than any 
one in the school. 

When the boys played " soldier," they liked to have 
** Captain George " as commander. When he drew his 
wooden sword, and shouted Come on ! they would all rush 
into battle with a wild hurrah. Years afterward, when the 
real war came, and George Washington drew his sword in 
earnest, some of his school companions may have fought 
under their old leader. 

125. The great battle with the colt, and what came of it. 
— Once, however, Washington had a battle of a different 
kind. It was with a high-spirited colt which belonged 
to his mother. Nobody had ever been able to do any- 
thing with that colt, and most people were afraid of him. 
Early one morning, George and 
some of his brothers were out in 
the pasture. George looked at 
the colt prancing about and kick- 
ing up his heels. Then he said : 
*' Boys, if you'll help me put a 

bridle on him, I'll ride him." The Washington's Home when a Bov. 

boys managed to get the colt into a corner and to slip on 
the bridle. With a leap, George seated himself firmly on 
his back. Then the fun began. The colt, wild with rage, 
ran, jumped, plunged, and reared straight up on his hind 
legs, hoping to throw his rider off. It was all useless ; he 
might as well have tried to throw off his own skin, for 
the boy stuck to his back as though he had grown there. 
Then, making a last desperate bound into the air, the ani- 




94 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

mal burst a blood-vessel and fell dead. The battle was 
over, George was victor, but it had cost the life of Mrs. 
Washington's favorite colt. 

When the boys went in to breakfast, their mother, 

knowing that they had just come from the pasture, asked 

how the colt was getting on. " He is dead, madam," said 

^/^, : George ; '' I killed him." '* Dead! " 

' '^'^^^0•X4^^rk^l '- exclaimed his mother. " Yes, 

X^.'K^'^'^^^^'^,]'^ madam, dead," replied her son. 




SYvWt 



4%*^'^^^^'^*'^^^^^^'*' 4 T^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ i^^^ ^^^ i^ ^^P" 

"/=^4^^^^S%»^5*' pened. When Mrs. Washington 
•^"^^^^^ "'"^^ heard the story, her face flushed 

Stone marking Washington's . . . 

Birthplace; the House is With aUgCr. i hcu, Waitmg a mO- 

No LONGER STANDING. ^^^^^ ^^^ j^^^^^ stcadily at Gcorgc, 

and said quietly, " While I regret the loss of my favorite, 
I rejoice in my son, who always speaks the truth." 

126. Washington goes on a visit to Mount Vernon; he 
makes the acquaintance of Lord Fairfax. — George's eldest 
brother, Lawrence Washington, had married the daughter 
of a gentleman named Fairfax,^ who lived on the banks 
of the Potomac. Lawrence had a fine estate a few miles 
above, on the same river ; he called his place Mount Ver- 
non. When he was fourteen, George went to Mount 
Vernon to visit his brother. 

Lawrence Washington took George down the river to 
call on the Fairfaxes. There the lad made the acquaint- 
ance of Lord Fairfax, an English nobleman who had come 
over from London. He owned an immense piece of land 
in Virginia. Lord Fairfax and George soon became great 
friends. He was a gray-haired man nearly sixty, but he 
enjoyed having this boy of fourteen as a companion. 

1 Fairfax. This was the Hon. WilUam Fairfax; he was cousin to Lord Fairfax, 
and he had the care of Lord Fairfax's land. 




94 



Map Illustrating Washingtok's Early Life. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 95 

They spent weeks together on horseback in the fields and 
woods, hunting deer and foxes. 

127. Lord Fairfax hires Washington to survey ^ his land ; 
how Washington lived in the woods ; the Indian war-dance. — 

Lord Fairfax's land extended westward more than a hun- 
dred miles. It had never been very carefully surveyed ; 
and he was told that settlers were moving in beyond the 
Blue Ridge Mountains,^ and were building log-cabins on 
his property without asking leave. By the time Wash- 
ington was sixteen, he had learned surveying; and so 
Lord Fairfax hired him to measure his land for him. 
Washington was glad to undertake the work ; for he 
needed the money, and he could earn in this way from 
five to ten dollars a day. 

Early in the spring, Washington, in company with 
another young man, started off on foot to do this business. 
They crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains, and entered the 
Valley of Virginia, one of the most beautiful valleys in 
America. 

The two young men would work all day in the woods 
with a long chain, measuring the land. When evening 
came, Washington would make a map of what they had 
measured. Then they would wrap themselves up in their 
blankets, stretch themselves on the ground at the foot of a 
tree, and go to sleep under the stars. 

Every day they shot some game — squirrels or wild 
turkeys, or perhaps a deer. They kindled a fire with flint 
and steel,^ and roasted the meat on sticks held over the 
coals. For plates they had clean chips ; and as clean 
chips could always be got by a few blows with an axe, 

1 Survey : to find out the form, size, and position of a piece of land by measur- 
ing it in certain ways. 2 gee map on page 94. 
3 Flint and steel : see picture on page 57. 



96 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY 



they never washed any dishes, but just threw them away, 
and had a new set for each meal. 

Wliile in the Valley they met a band of Indians, who 
stopped and danced a war-dance for them. The music 
was not remarkable, — for most of it was made by drumming 




Washington sees an Indian War-Dance. 



on a deer-skin stretched across the top of an old iron pot, 
— but the dancing itself could not be beat. The savages 
leaped into the air, swung their hatchets, gashed the trees, 
and yelled till the woods rang. 

When Washington returned from his surveying trip, 
Lord Fairfax was greatly pleased with his work ; and the 
governor of Virginia made him one of the public sur- 
veyors. By this means he was able to get work which 
paid him handsomely. 

128. Washing-ton at the age of twenty-one ; the French in 
the west ; the governor of Virginia sends Washington to see 
the French commander. — By the time Washington was 
twenty-one he had grown to be over six feet in height. 
He was straight as an arrow and tough as a whip-lash. He 
had keen blue eyes that seemed to look into the very heart 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 97 

of things, and his fist was like a blacksmith's sledge- 
hammer. He knew all about the woods, all about Indians, 
and he could take care of himself anywhere. 

At this time the English settlers held the country along 
the seashore as far back as the Alleghany Mountains.^ 
West of those mountains the French from Canada were 
trying to get possession of the land. They had made 
friends with many of the Indians, and they hoped, with 
their help, to be able to drive out the English and get the 
whole country for themselves. 

In order to hold this land in the west, the French had 
built several forts ^ south of Lake Erie, and they were 
getting ready to build some on the Ohio River. The 
governor of Virginia was determined to put a stop to this. 
He had given young Washington the military title of 
major; 3 he now sent Major Washington to see the French 
commander at one of the forts near Lake Erie. Wash- 
ington was to tell the Frenchman that he had built his 
forts on land belonging to the English, and that he and 
his men must either leave or fight. 

Major Washington dressed himself like an Indian, and 
attended by several friendly Indians and by a white man 
named Gist,* who knew the country well, he set out on his 
journey through what was called the Great Woods. 

The entire distance to the farthest fort and back was 
about a thousand miles. Washington could go on horse- 
back part of the way, but there were no regular roads, 
and he had to climb mountains and swim rivers. After 
several weeks' travel he reached the fort, but the French 
commander refused to give up the land. He said that he 

1 Alleghany (Al'le-ga'ni) : see map on page 94. (It is also spelled Allegheny.) 

2 Forts : see map on page 94. 

3 Major (ma'jer) : an officer in the army next above a captain, but below a 
colonel. 4 Gist (Jist). 



98 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



and his men had come to stay, and that if the EngHsh did 
not Hke it, they must fight. 

129. The journey back ; the Indian guide ; how Washington 
found his way through the woods ; the adventure with the 
raft. — On the way back, Washington had to leave his 
horses and come on foot with Gist and an Indian guide 
sent from the fort. This Indian guide was in the pay of 
the French, and he intended to murder Washington in the 
woods. One day he shot at him from behind a tree, 
but luckily did not hit him. Then Washington and Gist 
managed to get away from him, and set out to go back to 
Virginia by themselves. There were no paths through 
the thick forest ; but Washington had his compass with 
him, and with that he could find his way just as the cap- 
tain of a ship finds his at sea. When they reached the 
Alleghany River they found it full of floating ice. They 
worked all day and made a raft of logs. As they were 

pushing their way across with 
poles, Washington's pole was 
struck by a big piece of ice 
which he says jerked him out 
into water ten feet deep. At 
length the two men managed 
to get to a little island, but as 
there was no wood on it, they 
could not make a fire. The 
weather was bitterly cold, and 
Washington, who was soaked to the skin, had to take his 
choice between walking about all night, or trying to sleep 
on the frozen ground in his wet clothes. 

130. Major Washington becomes Colonel Washington ; Fort 
Necessity; Braddock's defeat. — When Major Washington 
got back to Virginia, the governor made him colonel. With 




GEORGE WASHINGTON. 99 

a hundred and fifty men, Colonel Washington was ordered 
to set out for the west. He was to '* make prisoners, kill 
or destroy," all Frenchmen who should try to get possession 
of land on the Ohio River. He built a small log fort, 
which he named Fort Necessity.^ Here the French at- 
tacked him. They had five men to his one. Colonel 
Washington fought like a man who liked to hear the 
bullets whistle past his ears, — as he said he did, — but in 
the end he had to give up the fort. 

Then General Braddock, a noted English soldier, was 
sent over to Virginia by the king to drive the French out 
of the country. He started with a fine army, and Washing- 
ton went with him.^ He told 
General Braddock that the 
French and the Indians would 
hide in the woods and fire at his 
men from behind trees. But 
Braddock paid no attention to 
the warning. On his way 
through the forest, the brave 
English general was killed by 
a sudden attack by the enemy, 
and half of his army were killed ^^^™ ^'^ General braddock on 

J THE BATTLE-riELD. 

or wounded, and the rest put to 

flight. Washington had two horses shot under him, and 
four bullets went through his coat. It was a narrow 
escape for the young man. One of those who fought in 
the battle said, '' I expected every moment to see him 
fall " — but he was to live for greater work. 

131. End of the war with the French ; what the king of 
England wanted to do ; how the people here felt toward him. 

1 Fort Necessity : see map on page 94. 

2 See map of Braddock's march on page 94. 




lOO THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

— The war with the French lasted a number of years. It 
ended by the EngHsh getting possession of the whole of 
America from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. 
All this part of America was ruled by George the Third, 
king of England. The king now determined to send over 
more soldiers, and keep them here to prevent the French 
in Canada from trying to get back the country they had lost. 
He wanted the people here in the thirteen colonies ^ to pay 
the cost of keeping these soldiers. But this the people 
were not willing to do, because they felt that they were 
able to protect themselves without help of any kind. Then 
the king said, If the Americans will not give the money, I 
will take it from them by force, — for pay it they must 
and shall. This was more than the king would have dared 
say about England ; for there, if he wanted money to spend 
on his army, he had to ask the people for it, and they 
could give it or not as they thought best. The Americans 
said, We have the same rights as our brothers in England, 
and the king cannot force us to give a single copper 
against our will. If he tries to take it from us, we will 
fight. Some of the greatest men in England agreed with 
us, and said that they would fight, too, if they were in our 
place. 

132. The king determines to have the money ; the tea-ships, 
and the " Boston tea-party." — But George the Third did not 
know the Americans, and he did not think that they meant 
what they said. He tried to make them pay the money, 
but they would not. From Maine to Georgia, all the 
people were of one mind. Then the king thought that he 
would try a different way. Shiploads of tea were sent 
over to New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Charleston. 
If the tea should be landed and sold, then every man who 

1 Thirteen colonies : see note on page 75. 




Pal"l Re\hke"s Ride. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



lO! 




The Boston " Tea-Party. 



bought a pound of it would have to pay six cents more 
than the regular price. That six cents was a tax, and it 
went into the king's pocket. The people said, We won't 
pay that six cents. When the tea reached New York, the 
citizens sent it back again to England. They did the same 
thing at Philadelphia. At Charleston they let it be landed, 
but it was stored in damp cellars. 
People would not buy any of it any 
more than they would buy so much 
poison, so it all rotted and spoiled. 
At Boston they had a grand 
"tea-party." A number of men 
dressed themselves up like Indi- 
ans, v\^ent on board the tea-ships 
at night, broke open all the chests, 
and emptied the tea into the harbor. 

133. The king closes the port of Boston ; Congress meets at 
Philadelphia ; the names American and British ; what General 
Gage tried to do. — The king was terribly angry ; and orders 
were given that the port of Boston should be closed, so 
that no ships, except the king's war-ships, should come in 
or go out. Nearly all trade stopped in Boston. Many of 
the inhabitants began to suffer for want of food, but 
throughout the colonies the people tried their best to help 
them. The New England towns sent droves of sheep and 
cattle, New York sent wheat, South Carolina gave two 
hundred barrels of rice ; the other colonies gave liberally 
in money and provisions. Even in England much sympa- 
thy was felt for the distressed people of Boston, and in 
London a large sum of money was raised to help those 
whom the king was determined to starve into submission. 

The colonies now sent some of their best men to Phila- 
delphia to consider what should be done. As this meeting 



I02 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

was made up of those who had come from all parts of the 
country, it took the name of the General or Continental 
Congress.^ 

About this time, too, a great change took place ; for the 
people throughout the country began to call themselves 
Americans, and to speak of the English troops that the 
king sent over here as British soldiers. 

In Boston General Gage had command of these soldiers. 
He knew that the Americans were getting ready to fight, 
and that they had stored up powder and ball at Concord,^ 
about twenty miles from Boston. One night he secretly 
sent out a lot of soldiers to march to Concord and destroy 
what they found there. 

134. Paul Revere ; ^ the fight at Lexington and Concord ; 
Bunker Hill. — But Paul Revere, a Boston man, was on the 
watch ; and as soon as he found out which way the British 
were going, he set off at a gallop for Lexington, on the road 
to Concord. All the way out, he roused people from their 
sleep, with the cry, " The British are coming ! " 

When the king's soldiers reached Lexington, they found 
the Americans, under Captain Parker, ready for them. 
Captain Parker said to his men, " Don't fire unless you are 
fired on ; but if they want a war, /et it begin Jicre'' The 
fighting did begin there, April 19th, 1775; and when the 
British left the town on their way to Concord, seven 
Americans lay dead on the grass in front of the village 
church. At Concord, that same day, there was still harder 

1 Congress : this word means a meeting or assembly of persons. The General 
or Continental Congress was an assembly of certain persons sent usually by all of 
the thirteen American colonies to meet at Philadelphia or Baltimore, to decide what 
should be done by the whole country. The first Congress met in 1774, or shortly 
before the Revolution began, and after that from time to time until near the close 
of the Revolution. 

'^ Concord (Con'cord). 3 Revere (Re-veer'). 




A 



THE NORTHERN STATES IN THE 
REVOLUTION. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



103 



fighting ; and on the way back to Boston, a large number 
of the British were killed. 

The next month, June 17th, 1775, a battle was fought on 
Bunker Hill in Charlestown, just outside of Boston. Gen- 
eral Gage thought the Yankees wouldn't fight, but they 
did fight, in a way that General Gage never forgot ; and 
though they had at last to retreat because their powder 
gave out, yet the British lost more than a thousand men. 
The contest at Bunker Hill was the first great battle of 
the Revolution ; that is, of that war which overturned the 











Washington at Mount Vernon. 



British power in America, and made us a free people. 
Many Englishmen thought the king was wrong. They 
would not fight against us, and he was obliged to hire a 
large number of German soldiers to send to America. 
These Germans had to fight us whether they wanted to 
or not, for their kins: forced them to come. 



I04 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



135. Colonel Washington at Mount Vernon ; Congress makes 
him General Washington, and sends him to take command of 
the American army. — At the time the battle of Bunker 
Hill was fought, Colonel George Washington was living 
very quietly at Mount Vernon. His brother Lawrence 
had died, and Mount Vernon was now his home. Wash- 
ington was very well off : he had a fine estate and plenty 
of slaves to do the work on it ; but when he died, many 
years later, he took good care to leave orders that all of his 
slaves should be set free as soon as it could be done. 









Washington taking command of the American Army at Cambridge. 

Congress now made Colonel Washington general, and 
sent him to Cambridge, a town just outside of Boston, to 
take command of the American army. It was called the 
Continental Army because it was raised, not to fight for 
the people of Massachusetts, but for all the Americans on 
the continent, north and south. Washington took com^ 
mand of the army under a great elm, which is still stand- 
ing. There, six months later, he raised the first American 
flag.i 



1 See a picture of this and the other flags of the Revolution on page iii. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. IO5 

136. American sharpshooters ; ^ Washington's need of cannon 
and powder ; the attack on Canada ; the British driven out of 
Boston. — Men now came from all parts of the country to 
join the Continental Army. Many of them were sharp- 
shooters. In one case an officer set up a board with the 
figure of a man's nose chalked on it, for a mark. A hun- 
dred men fired at it at long distance, and sixty hit the nose. 
The newspapers gave them great praise for their skill and 
said, " Now, General Gage, look out for j'<;^?/;' nose." 

Washington wanted to drive General Gage and the 
British soldiers out of Boston, but for months he could 
not get either cannon or powder. Benjamin Franklin 
said that we should have to fight as the Indians used 
to, with bows and arrows. 








"Now, General Gage, look; out for your Nose." 

While Washington was waiting, a number of Ameri- 
cans marched against the British in Canada ; but the 
cold weather came on, and they nearly starved to death : 
our men would sometimes take off their moccasins ^ and 
gnaw them, while they danced in the snow to keep their 
bare feet from freezing. 

At last Washington got both cannon and powder. He 
dragged the cannon up to the top of some high land over- 
looking Boston harbor. He then sent word to General 
Howe, for Gage had gone, that if he did not leave Boston 



1 Sharpshooters : men who can fire and hit a small mark with a bullet at a long 
distance. 2 Moccasins (mok'ka-sins) : Indian shoes made of deerskin. 



o6 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



he would knock his ships to pieces. The British saw that 
they could not help themselves, so they made haste to get 
on board their vessels and sail away. They never came 
back to Boston again, but went to New York. 

137. The Declaration of Independence ; '' Down with the 
king! " Washington is driven from New Yorl and across the 
Delaware River. — Washington got to New York first. 
While he was there. Congress,^ on the 4th of July, 1776, 
declared the United States independent — that is, entirely 
free from the rule of the king of England. There was a 



ilded 




lead statue of King George the 



on horseback in New 
When the 



York. 



Down with the King! 



news 
of what Congress 
had done reached 
that city, there was 
a great cry of 
'' Down with the 
king ! " That night 
some of our men 
pulled down the 
statue, melted it up, and cast it into bullets. 

The next month there was a battle on Long Island,^ 
just across from New York City ; the British gained the 
victory. Washington had to leave New York, and Lord 
Cornwallis, one of the British generals, chased him and 
his little army clear across the state of New Jersey. It 
looked at one time as though our men would all be taken 
prisoners, but Washington managed to seize a lot of small 
boats on the Delaware River '^ and get across into Pennsyl- 
vania : as the British had no boats, they could not follow. 



1 Congress : see note on page 102. 
3 See map on page 102. 



2 See map on page 102. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



07 



138. Washington's victory at Trenton, New Jersey. — Lord 
Cornwallis left fifteen hundred German soldiers at Trenton 
on the Delaware. He intended, as soon as the river froze 
over, to cross on the ice and attack Washington's army. 
But Washington did not wait for him. On Christmas 
night (1776) he took a large number of boats, filled them 
with soldiers, and secretly crossed over to New Jersey.^ 
The weather was intensely cold, the river was full of float- 
ing ice, and a furious snow-storm set in. Many of our men 
were ragged and had only old broken shoes. They suf- 
fered terribly, and two of them were frozen to death. 




Washington crossing the Delawakk Ri\"ek. 

The Germans at Trenton had been having a jolly Christ- 
mas, and had gone to bed, suspecting no danger. Sud- 
denly Washington, with his men, rushed into the little 
town, and almost before they knew what had happened, a 
thousand Germans were made prisoners. The rest escaped 
to tell Lord Cornwallis how the Americans had beaten them. 
When Washington was driven out of New York, many 
Americans thought he would be captured. Now they 



1 See map on page 102. 



io8 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 




were filled with joy. The battle of Trenton was the 
first battle won by the Continental Army. 

139. Our victory at Princeton, New Jersey; the British 
take Philadelphia ; winter at Valley Forge ; Burgoyne beaten ; 
the king of France agrees to help ns. — Washington took his 
thousand prisoners over into Pennsylvania. A few days 
later he again crossed the Delaware 
into New Jersey. While Cornwallis 
was fast asleep in his tent, he slipped 
round him, got to Princeton,^ and 
there beat a part of the British army. 
Cornwallis woke up and heard Wash- 
ington's cannon. *' That's thunder," 
he said. He was right; it was the thunder of another 
American victory. 

But before the next winter set in, the British had taken 
the city of Philadelphia, then the capital of the United 
States. Washington's army was freezing and starving on 
the hillsides of Valley Forge,^ about twenty miles north- 
west of Philadelphia. 

But good news was coming. The Americans had won 
a great victory at Saratoga, New York,^ over the British 
general, Burgoyne.^ Dr. Franklin was then in Paris. 
When he heard that Burgoyne was beaten, he hurried off 
to the palace of the French king to tell him about it. The 
king of France hated the British, and he agreed to send 
money, ships, and soldiers to help us. When our men 
heard that at Valley Forge, they leaped and hurrahed for 
joy. Not long after that the British left Philadelphia, and 
we entered it in triumph. 

1 Princeton : see map on page 102. 

2 Valley Forge : see map on page 102. 

3 Saratoga : see map on page 102. 

4 Burgoyne (Bur'goin). 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



109 



140. The war at the South ; Jasper ; Cowpens ; Greene and 
Cornwallis. — While these things were happening at the 
north, the British sent a fleet of vessels to take Charles- 
ton, South Carolina. They hammered away with their 
big guns at a little log fort under command of Colonel 
Moultrie. In the battle a cannon-ball struck the flag-pole 
on the fort, and cut it in two. The South Carolina flag 
fell to the ground outside the fort. Sergeant ^ William 
Jasper leaped down, and, while the British shot were strik- 
ing all around him, seized the flag, climbed back, fastened 
it to a short staff, and raised it to 
its place, to show that the Ameri- 
cans would never give up the fort. 
The British, after fighting all day, 
saw that they could do nothing 
against palmetto logs ^ when de- 
fended by such men as Moultrie 
and Jasper ; so they sailed away 
with such of their ships as had not 

been destroyed. Sergeant Jasper and the Flag. 

Several years later, Charleston was taken. Lord Corn- 
wallis then took command of the British army in South 
Carolina. General Greene, of Rhode Island, had com- 
mand of the Americans. He sent Samuel Morgan with 
his sharpshooters to meet part of the British army at 
Cowpens ; ^ they did meet them, and sent them flying. 
Then Cornwallis determined to either whip General Greene 
or drive him out of the state. But General Greene wor- 
ried Cornwallis so that at last he was glad enough to get 

1 Sergeant (sar'jent) : a military officer of low rank. 

'■2 Palmetto logs: the wood of the palmetto tree is very soft and spongy; the 
cannon-balls, when they struck, would bury themselves in the logs, but would 
neither break them to pieces nor go through them. 

8 Cowpens : see map on page no. 




no THE BEGINNERS AMERICAN HISTORY. 

into Virginia. He had found North and South CaroUna 
Uke two hornets' nests, and the further he got away 
from those hornets, the better he Was pleased. 

141, Cornwallis and Benedict Arnold ; Lafayette ; Corn- 
wallis shuts himself up in Yorktown. — When Lord Corn- 
walhs got into Virginia he found Benedict Arnold waiting 
to help him. Arnold had been a general in the American 
army ; Washington gave him the command of the fort at 
West Point, on the Hudson River,^ and trusted him as 
though he was his brother. Arnold deceived him, and 
secretly offered to give up the fort to the British. We 
call a man who is false to his friends and to his country a 
traitor : it is the most shameful name we can fasten on 
him. Arnold was a traitor ; and if we could have caught 
him, we should have hanged him ; but he was cunning 
enough to run away and escape to the British. Now he 
was burning houses and towns in Virginia, and doing all 
that he could — as a traitor always will — to destroy those 
who had once been his best friends. He wanted to stay 
in Virginia and assist Cornwallis ; but that general was a 
brave and honorable man : he despised Arnold, and he 
would have nothing whatever to do with him. 

A young nobleman named Lafayette ^ had come over 
from France on purpose to help us against the British. 
Cornwallis laughed at him and called him a *' boy " ; but 
he found that General Lafayette was a '* boy " who knew 
how to fight. The British commander moved toward the 
seacoast ; Lafayette followed him ; at length Cornwallis 
shut himself up with his army in Yorktown.^ 

142. Washington marches against Yorktown, and takes it and 
the army of Cornwallis. — Washington, with his army, was 



1 West Point : see map on page 102. ^ Lafayette (Lah-fay-ef). 

3 Yorktown : see map on page no. 




No. 2. 

^m THE SOUTHERN STATES IN THE 
EEVOLUTION. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



II I 



then near New York City, watching the British there. The 
French king had done as he agreed, and had sent over war- 
ships and soldiers to help us ; but so far they had never 




The Flags of the Revolution 



been able to do much. Now was the chance. Before the 
British knew what Washington was about, he had sent 



1 The flag with the large crosses on it, on the left, is the English flag at the time 
of the American Revolution. The flag on the right is that which W^ashington 
raised at Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 2d, 1776. He simply took the English 
flag, and added thirteen stripes to represent the union of the thirteen English col- 
onies. The flag in the centre, with its thirteen stars and thirteen stripes represent- 
ing the thirteen states, is the first American national flag. It was adopted by 
Congress June 14th, 1777, not quite a year after we had declared ourselves inde- 
pendent of Great Britain. Beneath this flag is Washington's coat of arms with a 
Latin motto, meaning " The event justifies the deed." It is possible that the stars 
and stripes on our national flag came from the stars and stripes (or bars) on this 
ancient coat of arms, which may be seen on the tombstone of one of the Washing- 
ton family, buried in 1583, in the parish church at Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, 
England, 



112 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



the French war-ships down to Yorktown to prevent Corn- 
wallis from gettmg away by sea. Then, with his own army 
and some French soldiers besides, Washington quickly 
marched south to attack Yorktown by land. 

When he got there he placed his cannon round the 
town, and began battering it to pieces. For about a week 
he kept firing night and day. One house had over a thou- 
sand balls go through it. Its walls looked like a sieve. 
At last Cornwallis could not hold out any longer, and on 
October 19th, 1781, his army came out and gave themselves 
up as prisoners. 

The Americans formed a line more than a mile long on 
one side of the road, and the French stood facing them 
on the other side. The French had on gay clothes, and 
looked very handsome ; the clothes of Washington's men 
were patched and faded, but their eyes shone with a won- 
derful light — the light of victory. The British m.arched 
out slowly, between the two lines : somehow they found it 
pleasanter to look at the bright uniforms of the French, 
than to look at the eyes of the Americans. 

143. How the news of the taking of Yorktown was carried to 
Philadelphia ; Lord Fairfax. — People at a distance noticed 

that the cannon had 
suddenly stopped fir- 
ing. They looked at 
each other, and asked, 
"What does it mean .'' " 
All at once a man 
appears on horse- 
back. He is riding 
with all his might 
toward Philadelphia, where Congress is. As he dashes 
past, he rises in his stirrups, swings his cap, and shouts 




" CORNWAI.LIS IS taken! 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



13 




with all his might 



Hoisting the Stars and Stripes 
AT New York. 



Cornwallis 
is taken ! Cornwallis is taken ! *' 
Then it was the people's turn 
to shout ; and they made the 
hills ring with, " Hurrah ! Hur- 
rah ! Hurrah ! " 

Poor Lord Fairfax/ Washing- 
ton's old friend, had always 
stood by the king. He was now 
over ninety. When he heard 
the cry, " Cornwallis is taken ! " 
it was too much for the old 
man. He said to his negro ser- 
vant, " Come, Joe ; carry me to 
bed, for I'm sure it's high time 
for me to die." 

144. Tearing down the British 
flag at New York ; Washington 
goes back to Mount Vernon ; he 
is elected President ; his death ; 
Lafayette visits his tomb. — The 
Revolutionary War had lasted 
seven years, — terrible years 
they were, years of sorrow, suf- 
fering, and death, — but now the 
end had come, and America was 
free. When the British left 
New York City, they nailed the 
British flag to a high pole on 
the wharf ; but a Yankee sailor 
soon climbed the pole, tore down 
the flag of England, and hoisted 
the stars and stripes in its place. 

1 See page 94. 



114 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



That was more than a hundred years ago. Now the Eng- 
Ush and the Americans have become good friends, and the 
EngUsh people see that the Revolution ended in the way 
that was best for both of us. 




President Washington's Coach. 

When it was clear that there would be no more fighting, 
Washington went back to Mount Vernon. He hoped to 
spend the rest of his life there. But the country needed 
him, and a few years later it chose him the first President 
of the United States. 

Washington was made President in New York City, 
which was the capital of the 
United States at that time. A 
French gentleman who was there 
tells us how Washington, stand- 
ing in the presence of thousands 
of people, placed his hand on 
the Bible, and solemnly swore 
that with the help of God he 
would protect and defend the 
United States of America. 

Washington was elected Presi- 
dent twice. When he died many 
of the people in England and France joined America in 
mourning for him ; for all men honored his memory. 




President Washington taking 
THE Oath. 




GEORGE WASHINGTON. II5 

Lafayette came over to visit us many years afterward. 
He went to Mount Vernon, where Washington was buried. 
There he went down into the 
vault, and, kneeUng by the side 
of the cofifin, he covered his face 
with his hands, and shed tears of 
gratitude to think that he had 
known such a man as Washing- 
ton, and that Washington had 
been his friend. 

145. Summary. — George Washington, the son of a Vir- 
ginia planter, became the leader of the armies of the United 
States in the war of the Revolution. At the close of the 
war, after he had made America free, he was elected our 
first President. His name stands to-day among those of 
the greatest men in the history of the world. 

When and where was George Washington born ? What did he learn at school ? 
What did he write in one of his writing-books ? Tell about his sports and games 
at school. What is said of " Captain George " ? Tell the story about the colt. 
What did George's mother say ? Tell about George's visit to his brother and to 
the Fairfaxes. What is said of Lord Fairfax ? What did he hire Washington to 
do ? Tell about his surveying and his life in the woods. Tell about the Indian war- 
dance. What did the governor of Virginia do when Washington returned ? What 
is said of Washington at the age of twenty-one ? Tell about his journey to the 
French forts and his return. What is said about the Indian guide ? What about 
the raft ? What did the governor of Virginia do when Washington returned ? 
Wh^ did the governor order him to do ? What about Fort Necessity ? Tell 
about General Braddock, and about what happened to Washington. What is said 
about the end of the war ? What did King George the Third determine to do ? 
What did the king want the Americans to do ? How did they feel ? What did the 
king say ? What did the Americans say to that ? What did some of the jjreatest 
men in England say? What did the king then try to do? Tell about tlie tea- 
ships. What happened in Boston ? What was done to Boston ? What help did 
the people of Boston get ? What did the colonies now do ? What did the people 
now begin to call themselves ? What did they call the English troops ? 

Who commanded the British soldiers in Boston ? What did he do ? What 
about Paul Revere ? What did Captain Parker of Lexington say to his men ? 
What happened at Lexington and at Concord ? Tell about the battle of Bunker 
Hill. What did many Englishmen refuse to do ? Where was Colonel Washing- 
ton living ? What did Congress do ? Where did Washington take command of 
the army ? Tell about the sharpshooters. Tell about the march to Canada. How 
did Washington take Boston ? Where did the British go ? Where did Washing- 
ton go ? What did Congress do on July 4th, 1776 ? What happened in New York ? 
What about the battle of Long Island ? What did Cornwallis do ? Tell about the 
victory at Trenton. What happened at Princeton ? What city did the British 



ii6 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



take ? Where was Washington's army ? What happened at Saratoga ? What 
did the king of France do ? What happened at the south ? Tell about Sergeant 
Jasper. What is said about General Greene ? What did Cornwallis do ? Where 
did he go ? What is said about Benedict Arnold ? What about Lafayette ? Where 
did Cornwallis shut himself up witli his army ? What did Washington do ? Tell^ 
about the surrender of Cornwallis. How was the news carried to Philadelphia ? 
What is said of Lord Fairfax ? How long had the war lasted ? What was done 
at New York ? What is said of General Washington after the war ? Tel] how he 
was made President. What happened when he died ? What is said of Lafayette ? 



DANIEL BOONE 



(1734-1820). 



146. Daniel Boone ; what the hunters of the west did ; 
Boone's life in North Carolina. — Before Washington began 
to fight the battles of the Revolution in the east, Daniel 
Boone and other famous hunters were fighting bears and 
Indians in what was then called the west. By that war 
in the woods, these brave and hardy men helped us to get 

possession of that part of 
the country. 

Daniel Boone was born in 
Pennsylvania. 1 His father 
moved to North Car^lina,^ 
and Daniel helped him t:ut 
down the trees round their 
log cabin in the forest. He 
ploughed the land, which was 
thick with stumps, hoed the 
corn that grew up among 
those stumps, and then, — as 
there was no mill near, — he pounded it into meal for 

1 He was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. 

2 He settled near Wilkesboro, on the banks of the Yadkin River. See map on 
page 119. 




Boone pounding Corn. 



DANIEL BOONE. 



117 



"johnny-cake." He learned how to handle a gun quite as 
soon as he did a hoe. The unfortunate deer or coon that 
saw young Boone coming toward him knew that he had 
seen his best days, and that he would soon have the whole 
Boone family sitting round him at the dinner-table. 

147. Boone's wanderings in the western forests ; his bear 
tree. — When Daniel had grown to manhood, he wandered 
off with his gun on his shoulder, and crossing the mountains, 
entered what is now the state of Tennessee. That whole 
country was then a wilderness, full of savage beasts and 
still more savage Indians ; and Boone had many a sharp 
fight with both. 

More than a hundred and thirty years 
ago, he cut these words on a beech-tree, 
still standing in Eastern Tennessee,^ — 
" D. Boon killed a bar on (this) tree in 
the year 1760." You will see if you 
examine the tree, on which the words 
can still be read, that Boone could not 
spell very well ; but he could do what 
the bear minded a good deal more, — he 
could shoot to kill. 

148. Boone goes hunting in Kentucky ; 
what kind of game he found there ; the 
Indians; the "Dark and Bloody Ground." 
— Nine years after he cut his name on 
that tree, Boone, with a few companions, 
went to a new part of the country. 
The Indians called it Kentucky. There he saw buffalo, 
deer, bears, and wolves enough to satisfy the best hunter 
in America. 




Boone's Bear Tree. 



1 The tree is still standing on the banks of Boone's Creek, near Jonesboro, 
Washington County, Tennessee. 



Il8 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

This region was a kind of No Man's Land, because, 
though many tribes of Indians roamed over it, none of 
them pretended to own it. These bands of Indians were 
always fighting and trying to drive each other out, so 
Kentucky was often called the '' Dark and Bloody Ground." 
But, much as the savages hated each other, they hated the 
white men, or the " pale-faces," as they called them, still 
more. 

149. Indian tricks ; the owls. — The hunters were on the 
lookout for these Indians, but the savages practised all kinds 
of tricks to get the hunters near enough to shoot them. 
Sometimes Boone would hear the gobble of a wild turkey. 
He would listen a moment, then he would say, That is not 
a wild turkey, but an Indian, imitating that bird ; but he 
won't fool me and get me to come near enough to put a 
bullet through my head. 

One evening an old hunter, on his way to his cabin, 
heard what seemed to be two young owls calling to each 
other. But his quick ear noticed that there was something 
not quite natural in their calls, and what was stranger still, 
that the owls seemed to be on the ground instead of being 
perched on trees, as all well-behaved owls would be. He 
crept cautiously along through the bushes till he saw 
something ahead which looked like a stump. He didn't 
altogether like the looks of the stump. He aimed his rifle 
at it, and fired. The stump, or what seemed to be one, 
fell over backward with a groan. He had killed an Indian, 
who had been waiting to kill him. 

150. Boone makes the "Wilderness Road," and builds the fort 
at Boonesboro'. — In 1775 Boone, with a party of thirty men, 
chopped a path through the forest from the mountains of 
Eastern Tennessee to the Kentucky River,^ a distance 

1 See map on page 119. 



DANIEL BOONE. 



119 



of about two hundred miles. This was the first path in 
that part of the country leading to the great west. It was 
called the " Wilderness Road.'' Over that road, which 
thousands of emigrants travelled afterward, Boone took 
his family, with other settlers, to the Kentucky River. 
There they built a fort called Boonesboro'. That fort was 
a great protection to all the first settlers in Kentucky. In 
fact, it is hard to see how the state could have grown up 
without it. So in one way, we can say with truth that 
Daniel Boone, the hunter, fighter, and road-maker, was a 
state-builder besides. 




Harrodbburjf 

^ Boonesboro "^ 










Map showing Boone's " Wilderness Road." 

151. Boone's daughter is stolen by the Indians ; how he 
found her. — One day Boone's young daughter was out, 
with two other girls, in a canoe on the river. Suddenly 
some Indians pounced on them and carried them off. 

One of the girls, as she went along, broke off twigs 
from the bushes, so that her friends might be able to fol- 
low her track through the woods. An Indian caught her 
doing it, and told her that he would kill her if she did not 



I20 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

instantly stop. Then she slyly tore off small bits of her 
dress, and dropped a piece from time to time. 

Boone and his men followed the Indians like blood- 
hounds. They picked up the bits of dress, and so easily 
found which way the savages had gone. They came up 
with the Indians just as they were sitting down round a 
fire to eat their supper. Creeping toward them behind the 
trees as softly as a cat creeps up behind a mouse, Boone 
and his men aimed their rifles and fired. Two of the 
Indians fell dead, the rest ran for their lives, and the girls 
were carried back in safety to the fort. 

152. Boone is captured by Indians ; they adopt him as a 
son. — Later, Boone himself was caught and carried off by 
the Indians. They respected his courage so much that 
they would not kill him, but decided to adopt him ; that is, 
take him into the tribe as one of their own people, or make 
an Indian of him. 

They pulled out all his hair except one long lock, 
called the " scalp-lock," which they left to grow in Indian 
fashion. The squaws ^ and girls braided bright feathers in 
this lock, so that Boone looked quite gay. Then the 
Indians took him down to a river. There they stripped 
him, and scrubbed him with all their might, to get his 
white blood out, as they said. Next, they painted his face 
in stripes with red and yellow clay, so that he looked, as 
they thought, handsomer than he ever had before in his 
life. When all had been done, and they were satisfied 
with the appearance of their new Indian, they sat down to 
a great feast, and made merry. 

153. Boone escapes, but the Indians find him again ; what a 
handful of tobacco dust did. — After a time Boone managed 
to escape, but the Indians were so fond of him that they 

1 Squaws : Indian women. 



DANIEL BOONE. 



21 




could not rest till they found him again. One day he was 
at work in a kind of shed drying some tobacco leaves. He 
heard a slight noise, and turning round saw four Indians 
with their guns pointed at him. '' Now, Boone," said they, 
'' we got you. You no get away 
this time." '* How are you.^" said 
Boone, pleasantly; '*glad to see 
you; just wait a minute till I get 
you some of my tobacco." He 
gathered two large handfuls of the 
leaves : they were as dry as powder 
and crumbled to dust in his hands. 
Coming forward, as if to give the 
welcome present to the Indians, he 
suddenly sprang on them and filled 
their eyes, mouths, and noses with 
the stinging tobacco dust. The sav- 
ages were half choked and nearly 
blinded. While they were dancing 
about, coughing, sneezing, and rubbing their eyes, Boone 
slipped out of the shed and got to a place of safety. The 
Indians were mad as they could be, yet they could hardly 
help laughing at Boone's trick; for cunning as the red 
men were, he was more cunning still. 

154. Boone's old age ; he moves to Missouri ; he begs for a 
piece of land ; his grave. — Boone lived to be a very old 
man. He had owned a good deal of land in the west, but 
he had lost possession of it. When Kentucky began to 
fill up with people and the game was killed off, Boone 
moved across the Mississippi into Missouri. He said that 
he went because he wanted " more elbow room " and a 
chance to hunt buffalo again. 

He now begged the state of Kentucky to give him a 



Boone's Fort, at Boonesboro*, 
Kentucky. 



122 THE BEGINNERS AMERICAN HISTORY. 

small piece of land, where, as he said, he could " lay his 
bones." The people of that state generously helped him 
to get nearly a thousand acres ; but he appears to have 
soon lost possession of it. If he actually did lose it, then 
this brave old hunter, who had opened up the way for 
such a multitude of emigrants to get farms at the west, 
died without owning a piece of ground big enough for a 
grave. He is buried in Frankfort, Kentucky, within sight 
of the river on which he built his fort at Boonesboro'. 

155. Summary. — Daniel Boone, a famous hunter from 
North Carolina, opened up a road through the forest, from 
the mountains of Eastern Tennessee to the Kentucky 
River. It was called the " Wilderness Road," and over 
it thousands of emigrants went into Kentucky to settle. 
Boone, with others, built the fort at Boonesboro', Ken- 
tucky, and went there to live. That fort protected the 
settlers against the Indians, and so helped that part of the 
country to grow until it became the state of Kentucky. 

Tell about Daniel Boone. How did he help his father ? Where did he go when 
he became a man ? What did he cut on a beech tree ? Where did he go after 
that? What is said of the Indians in Kentucky ? Tell about Indian tricks. Tell 
about the two owls. Tell about the Wilderness Road. What is said of the fort at 
Boonesboro' ? Tell how Boone's daughter and the other girls were stolen by the 
Indians. What happened next ? Tell how Boone was captured by the Indians 
and how they adopted him. Tell the story of the tobacco dust. What did Boone 
do when he became old ? What did Kentucky get for him ? Where is he buried ? 

GENERAL JAMES ROBERTSON AND GOVERNOR 
JOHN SEVIER^ 

(1742-1814; 1745-1815). 

156. Who James Robertson was ; Governor Tryon ; the battle 
of Alamance.^ — When Daniel Boone first went to Kentucky 

1 Sevier (Se-veer') : he was born in Rockingham County, Virginia. 

2 Alamance River (Al'a-mance) : see map on page 119. 



GENERAL JAMES ROBERTSON. 



123 



(1769) he had a friend named James Robertson, in North 
CaroHna^ who was, Hke himself, a mighty hunter. The 
British governor of North CaroHna at that time was Wil- 
liam Try on. He lived in a palace built with money which 
he had forced the people to give him. They hated him so 
for his greed and cruelty that they nicknamed him the 
''Great Wolf of North Carolina." 

At last many of the settlers vowed that they would not 
give the governor another penny. When he sent tax-col- 
lectors to get money, ^ 



they drove them back, 
and they flogged one 
of the governor's 
friends with a raw- 
hide till he had to 
run for his life. 

The governor then 
collected some sol- 
diers and marched 
against the people in 
the west. A battle 
was fought near the 
Alamance River. 
The governor had the 
most men and had 
cannon besides, so he 
gained the day. He 
took seven of the 
people prisoners and hanged them, 
as men do who die for liberty. 



'J 




Robertson with his Party crossing the Mountains 
on their way to tennessee. 



They all died bravely, 



1 Robertson was born in Brunswick County, Virginia; he emigrated to 
North Carolina and settled in the neighborhood of Raleigh. See map on 
page 119. 



124 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

157. James Robertson leaves North Carolina and goes west. — 

After the battle of Alamance James Robertson and his 
family made up their minds that they would not live 
any longer where Governor Tryon ruled. They resolved 
to go across the mountains into the western wilderness. 
Sixteen other families joined Robertson's and went with 
them. It was a long, hard journey ; for they had to 
climb rocks and find their way through deep, tangled 
woods. The men went ahead with their axes and their 
guns ; then the older children followed, driving the cows ; 
last of all came the women with the little children, with 
beds, pots, and kettles packed on the backs of horses. 

158. The emigrants settle on the Watauga River ^ in Ten- 
nessee. — When the little party had crossed the moun- 
tains into what is now the state of Tennessee, they 
found a delightful valley. Through this valley there ran 
a stream of clear sparkling water called the Watauga 
River; the air of the valley was sweet with the smell 
of wild crab-apples. 

On the banks of that stream the emigrants built their 
new homes. Their houses were simply rough log huts, 
but they were clean and comfortable. When the settlers 
put up these cabins, they chopped down every tree near 
them which was big enough for an Indian to hide behind. 
They knew that they might have to fight the savages ; 
but they had rather do that than be robbed by tax-col- 
lectors. In the wilderness Governor Tryon could not 
reach them — they were free ; free as the deer and the 
squirrels were : that one thought made them contented 
and happy. 

159. John Sevier goes to settle at Watauga ; what he and 
Robertson did. — The year after this little settlement was 

1 Watauga River (Wa-taw'ga) : see map on page 119. 



JOHN SEVIER. 



125 



5EV^£F 



made John Sevier went from Virginia to Watauga, as 
it was called. He and Robertson soon became fast friends 
— for one brave man can always see something to respect 
and like in another brave man. Robertson and Sevier 
hunted together and worked together. 

After a while they called a meeting of the settlers 
and agreed on some excellent laws, so 
that everything in the log village might 
be done decently and in order; for al- 
though these people lived in the woods, 
they had no notion of living like sav- 
ages or wild beasts. In course of time 
President Washington made James Rob- 
ertson General Robertson, in honor of 
what he had done for his country. 

Out of this settlement in the valley 
of the Watauga River there grew the 
state of Tennessee. John Sevier, whose 
monument stands in the city of Nash- 
ville, which he founded, became the first 
governor of the new state. 

160. Summary. — James Robertson, of North Carolina, 
and John Sevier, of Virginia, emigrated across the moun- 
tains to the western wilderness. They settled on the 
Watauga River, and that settlement, with others made 
later, grew into the state of Tennessee, of which John 
Sevier became the first governor. 

What friend did Boone have in North Carolina ? Tell about Governor Tryon. 
What happened on the Alamance River ? Where did Robertson and others go ? 
Where did they settle ? Why did they like to be there ? Tell about John Sevier. 
What did he and Robertson do ? What did Washington do for Robertson ? What 
state grew out ot the Watauga settlement ? What did Sevier become ? Where is 
his monument? 



2\ 



21. 



126 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 




Map showing the Forts at Detroit, Kaskaskia, and 
Vincennes, with the line of Clark's march. 



(1752-1818). 

161. The British in the west; their forts; hiring Indians 
to fight the settlers. — While Washington was fighting the 

battles of the Revolution 
in the east, the British 
in the west were not sit- 
ting still. They had a 
number of forts in the 
Wilderness,^ as that part 
of the country was then 
called. One of these 
forts was at Detroit,^ in 
what is now Michigan ; 
another was at Vin- 
cennes,^ in what is now 
Indiana ; a third fort was at Kaskaskia,* in what is now 
Illinois. 

Colonel Hamilton, the British commander at Detroit, 
was determined to drive the American settlers out of the 
west. In the beginning of the Revolution the Americans 
resolved to hire the Indians to fight for them, but the 
British found that they could hire them better than we 
could, and so they got their help. The savages did their 
work in a terribly cruel way. Generally they did not come 
out and do battle openly, but they crept up secretly, by 
night, and attacked the farmers' homes. They killed and 
scalped the settlers in the west, burned their log cabins, 
and carried off the women and children prisoners. The 

1 See map on page 147. 

2 Detroit (De-troif) : for these forts see map on page 126. 

3 Vincennes (Vin-senz'). ^ Kaskaskia (Kas-kas'ki-a). 



GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 12/ 

greater part of the people in England hated this sort of 
war. They begged the king not to hire the Indians to do 
these horrible deeds of murder and destruction. George 
the Third was not a bad-hearted man ; but he was very set 
in his way, and he had fully made up his mind to conquer 
the ** American rebels," as he called them, even if he had 
to get the savages to help him do it. 

162. George Rogers Clark gets help from Virginia and starts 
to attack Fort Kaskaskia. — Daniel Boone had a friend in 
Virginia named George Rogers Clark,i who believed that 
he could take the British forts in the west and drive 
out the British from all that part of the country. Virginia 
then owned most of the Wilderness. For this reason Clark 
went to Patrick Henry, governor of Virginia, and asked 
for help. The governor liked the plan, and let Clark have 
money to hire men to go with him and try to take Fort 
Kaskaskia to begin with. 

Clark started in the spring of 1778 with about a hundred 
and fifty men. They built boats just above Pittsburgh and 
floated down the Ohio River, a distance of over nine hun- 
dred miles. Then they landed in what is now Illinois, 
and set out for Fort Kaskaskia.^ 

163. The march to Fort Kaskaskia ; how a dance ended. — 
It was a hundred miles to the fort, and half of the way the 
men had to find their way through thick woods, full of 
underbrush, briers, and vines. The British, thinking the 
fort perfectly safe from attack, had left it in the care of a 
French officer. Clark and his band reached Kaskaskia at 
night. They found no one to stop them. The soldiers in 
the fort were having a dance, and the Americans could 

1 George Rogers Clark was born near Monticello, Virginia. See map on 
page no. 2 Pittsburg: see map on page no. 

3 Fort Kaskaskia : see map on page 126, 



28 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



hear the merry music of a violm and the laughing voices 
of girls. 

Clark left his men just outside the fort, and, finding a 
door open, he walked in. He reached the room where the 
fun was going on, and stopping there, he stood leaning 
against the door-post, looking on. The room was lighted 
with torches ; the light of one of the torches happened 



n 











Clark looking on at the Dance. 

to fall full on Clark's face ; an Indian sitting on the floor 
caught sight of him ; he sprang to his feet and gave a 
terrific war-whoop. The dancers stopped as though they 
had been shot ; the women screamed ; the men ran to the 
door to get their guns. Clark did not move, but said 
quietly, *' Go on ; only remember you are dancing now 
under Virginia, and not under Great Britain." The next 
moment the Americans rushed in, and Clark and his 
"Long Knives," as the Indians called his men, had full 
possession of the fort. 

164. How Fort Vincennes was taken ; how the British got 
it back again ; what Francis Vigo ^ did. — Clark wanted next 
to march against Fort Vincennes, but he had not men 
enough. There was a French Catholic priest ^ at Kas- 
kaskia, and Clark's kindness to him had made him our 
friend. He said, I will go to Vincennes for you, and I 



1 Vigo (Vee-go). 



2 The priest was Father Gibault (Zhe-bo'). 



GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. 129 

will tell the French, who hold the fort for the British, that 
the Americans are their real friends, and that in this war 
they are in the right. He went; the French Hstened to 
him, then hauled down the British flag and ran up the 
American flag in its place. 

The next year the British, led by Colonel Hamilton 
of Detroit, got the fort back again. When Clark heard of 
it he said, " Either I must take Hamilton, or Hamilton will 
take me." Just then Francis Vigo, a trader at St. Louis, 
came to see Clark at Kaskaskia. Hamilton had held 
Vigo as a prisoner, so he knew all about Fort Vincennes. 
Vigo said to Clark, " Hamilton has only about eighty 
soldiers ; you can take the fort, and I will lend you 
all the money you need to pay your men what you owe 
them." 

165. Clark's march to Fort Vincennes ; the "Drowned Lands." 
— Clark, with about two hundred men, started for Vin- 
cennes. The distance was nearly a hundred and fifty 
miles. The first week everything went on pretty well. 
It was in the month of February, the weather was cold, 
and it rained a good deal, but the men did not mind 
that. They would get wet through during the day ; but 
at night they built roaring log fires, gathered round 
them, roasted their buffalo meat or venison, smoked their 
pipes, told jolly stories, and sang jolly songs. 

But the next week they got to a branch of the Wabash 
River.i Then they found that the constant rains had 
raised the streams so that they had overflowed their 
banks ; the whole country was under water three or four 
feet deep. This flooded country was called the '' Drowned 
Lands " : before Clark and his men had crossed them 
they were nearly drowned themselves. 

1 See map on page 126. 



1 30 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

166. Wading^ on to victory. — For about a week the 
Americans had to wade in ice-cold water, sometimes waist 
deep, sometimes nearly up to their chins. While wading, 
the men were obliged to hold their guns and powder-horns 
above their heads to keep them dry. Now and then a 
man would stub his toe against a root or a stone and 
would go sprawling headfirst into the water. When he 
came up, puffing and blowing from such a dive, he was 
lucky if he still had his gun. For two days no one could 
get anything to eat ; but hungry, wet, and cold, they kept 
moving slowly on. 

The last part of the march was the worst of all. They 
were now near the fort, but they still had to wade through 




a sheet of water four miles across. Clark took the lead 
and plunged in. The rest, shivering, followed. A few 
looked as though their strength and courage had given 
out. Clark saw this, and calling to Captain Bowman, — 
one of the bravest of his officers, — he ordered him to kill 
the first man who refused to go forward. 

At last, with numbed hands and chattering teeth, all got 
across, but some of them were so weak and blue with cold 
that they could not take another step, but fell flat on their 
faces in the mud. These men were so nearly dead that no 
fire seemed to warm them. Clark ordered two strong men 
to lift each of these poor fellows up, hold him between 
them by the arms, and run him up and down until he began 
to get warm. By doing this he saved every one. 



GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK. I3I 

167. Clark takes the fort ; what we got by his victory ; his 
grave. — After a long and desperate fight Clark took Fort 
Vincennes and hoisted the Stars and Stripes over it in 
triumph. The British never got it back again. Most of 
the Indians were now glad to make peace, and to promise 
to behave themselves. 

By Clark's victory the Americans got possession of the 
whole western wilderness up to Detroit. When the Revo- 
lutionary War came to an end, the British did not want to 
give us any part of America beyond the thirteen states on 
the Atlantic coast. But we said. The whole west, clear to 
the Mississippi, is ours ; we fought for it ; we took it ; we 
hoisted our flag over its forts, and we mean to keep it. We 
did keep it. 

There is a grass-grown grave in a burial-ground in Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, which has a small head- 
stone marked with the letters G. R. C, 
and nothing more ; that is the grave 
of General George Rogers Clark, the 
man who did more than any one else 
to get the west for us — or what was 
called the west a hundred years ago. Clark's Grave. 

168. Summary. — During the Revolutionary War George 
Rogers Clark of Virginia, with a small number of men, 
captured Fort Kaskaskia in Illinois, and Fort Vincennes 
in Indiana. Clark drove out the British from that part of 
the country, and when peace was made, we kept the west — 
that is, the country as far as the Mississippi River — as part 
of the United States. Had it not been for him and his 
brave men, we might not have got it. 

What did the British have in the west ? Where were three of those forts ? Who 
hired the Indians to fight ? How did they fight ? What did most of the people in 
England think about this ? What is said of George the Third ? What friend did 
Daniel Boone have in Virginia ? What did Clark undertake to do ? Tell how he 




132 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY 



went down the Ohio. Tell how he marched on Fort Kaskaskia. What happened 
when he got there ? What did Clark say to the people in the fort ? How was Fort 
Vincennes taken ? What did the British do the next year ? Tell about Francis 
Vigo. What did Clark and his men start to do ? How far off was Fort Vincennes ? 
Tell about the first part of the march ? What lands did they come to ? Tell how 
the men waded. How did Clark save the lives of some of the men ? Did Clark 
take the fort ? What did the Americans get possession of by this victory ? What 
happened at the end of the Revolutionary War ? What did we say ? What is said 
of the grave at Louisville, Kentucky ? What did Clark get for us ? 



j^o^c 



GENERAL RUFUS PUTNAM 

(1738-1824). 

169. What General Putnam did for Washington, and what 
the British said of Putnam's work. — When the British had 
possession of Boston in the time of the Revolution, Wash- 




Putnam's Fort. 
General Washington looking at the British Ships in Boston Harbor. 

ington asked Riifus Putnam, ^ who was a great builder of 
forts, to help him drive them out. Putnam set to work, 
one dark, stormy night, and built a fort on some high land ^ 
overlooking Boston Harbor. 

1 Rufus Putnam was born in Sutton, Massachusetts. 

2 Dorchester Heights : now South Boston. 



GENERAL RUFUS PUTNAM. 



33 



When the British commander woke up the next morning, 
he saw the American cannon pointed at his ships. He 
was so astonished that he could scarcely believe his eyes. 
" Why," said he, *' the rebels have done more in one night 
than my whole army could have done in a week." An- 
other officer, who had command of the British vessels, 
said, " If the Americans hold that fort, I cannot keep a 
ship in the harbor." 

Well, we know what happened. Our men did hold that 
fort, and the British had to leave Boston. Next to Gen- 
eral Washington, General Rufus Putnam was the man who 
made them go ; for not many officers in the American army 
could build such a fort as he could. 




170. General Putnam builds the Mayflower ; goes down the 
Ohio River and makes the first settlement in Ohio. — After 
the war was over, General Putnam started with a com- 
pany of people from New England, to make a settle- 
ment on the Ohio River. In the spring of 1788 he 
and his emigrants built a boat at a place just above 



134 THE BEGINNERS AMERICAN HISTORY. 

Pittsburg.^ They named this boat the Mayflowerl'^ be- 
cause they were Pilgrims going west to make their home 
there. 

At that time there was not a white settler in what is 
now the state of Ohio. Most of that country was covered 
with thick woods. There were no roads through those 
woods, and there was not a steamboat or a railroad either 
in America or in the world. If you look on the map ^ and 
follow down the Ohio River from Pittsburg, you will 
come to a place where the Muskingum joins the Ohio. 
At that place the Mayflowei' stopped, and the emigrants 
landed and began to build their settlement. 

171. What the settlers named their town; the first Fourth 
of July celebration ; what Washington said of the settlers. — 
During the Revolutionary War the beautiful Queen Mary 
of France was our firm friend, and she was very kind and 
helpful to Dr. Franklin when he went to France for us. 
A number of the emigrants had fought in the Revolution, 
and so it was decided to name the town Marietta,* in honor 
of the queen. 

When the Marietta settlers celebrated the Fourth of 
July, Major Denny, who commanded a fort just across the 
river, came to visit them. He said, " These people appear 
to be the happiest folks in the world." President Wash- 
ington said that he knew many of them and that he 
believed they were just the kind of men to succeed. He 
was right ; for these people, with those who came later 
to build the city of Cincinnati, were the ones who laid 
the foundation of the great and rich state of Ohio. 

1 Pittsburg: see map on page no. 

2 Mayfloioer : see page 41. 

3 See map on page no. 

4 The queen's full name in French was Marie Antoinette ; the name Marietta is 
made up from the first and the last parts of her name. 



GENERAL RUFUS PUTNAM. 



135 



172. Fights with the Indians; how the settlers held their 
town ; Indian Rock ; the '' Miami ^ Slaughter House." — But 

the people of Marietta had hardly begun to feel at home 
in their little settlement before a terrible Indian war broke 
out. The village of Marietta had a 
high palisade built round it, and if a 
man ventured outside that palisade he 
went at the risk of his life ; for the In- 
dians were always hiding in 
the woods, ready to kill any 
white man they saw. When the 
settlers worked 
in the cornfield, 
they had to carry 
their guns as well 
as their hoes, and 
one man always 
stood on top of 
a high stump 
in the middle of 
the field, to keep 
a bright look- 
out. 

There is a lofty rock on the Ohio River below Marietta, 
which is still called Indian Rock. It got its name because 
the Indians used to climb up to the top and watch for emi- 
grants coming down the river in boats. When they saw 
a boat, they would fire a shower of bullets at it, and per- 
haps leave it full of dead and wounded men to drift down 
the river. In the western part of Ohio, on the Miami 
River, the Indians killed so many people that the settlers 




Indian Rock. 



1 Miami (Mi-am'i). 



136 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

called that part of the country by the terrible name of the 
" Miami Slaughter House." 

173. "What General Wayne did. — But President Washing- 
ton sent a man to Ohio who made the Indians beg for 
peace. This man was General Wayne ; he had fought in 
the Revolution, and fought so furiously that he was called 
'^ Mad Anthony Wayne." The Indians said that he never 
slept, and named him " Black Snake," because that is the 
quickest and boldest snake there is in the woods, and in 
a fight with any other creature of his kind he is pretty sure 
to win the day. General Wayne won, and the Indians 
agreed to move off and give up a very large part of 
Ohio to the white settlers. After that there was not much 
trouble, and emigrants poured in by thousands. 

174. Summary. — In 1788 General Rufus Putnam, with 
a company of emigrants, settled Marietta, Ohio. The 
town was named in honor of Queen Mary of France, who 
had helped us during the Revolution. It was the first 
town built in what is now the state of Ohio. After Gen- 
eral Wayne conquered the Indians the state grew very 
fast. 

What did General Rufus Putnam do for Washington ? Where did General 
Putnam go in 1788 ? What is said of Ohio at that time ? Where did the Mayflower 
stop ? What is said of Queen Mary of France ? What did the settlers name their 
town ? What did Wasliington say about the settlers ? What did these people do ? 
What is said about the Indians? What about Indian Rock? What was the 
country on the Miami River called ? What is said about General Wayne ? What 
did the Indians call him ? Why did they give him that name ? What did the 
Indians agree to do ? What happened after that ? 



ELI WHITNEY. 



137 



ELI WHITNEY 



(1765-1825). 



W,^^ E 




L 



175. The name cut on a door. — Near Westboro', Massa- 
chusetts/ there is an old farm-house which was built before 
the war of the Revolution. Close to the house is a small 
wooden building ; on the door you can read a boy's name, 
just as he cut it with his pocket-knife more than a hundred 

years ago. Here is the door with 

the name. If the boy had added 
the date of his birth, he would have 
cut the figures 1765 ; but perhaps, 
just as he got to that point, his 
father appeared and said rather 
sharply : Eli, don't be cutting that 
door. No, sir, said Eli, with a start ; 
and shutting his knife up with a 
snap, he hurried off to get the 
cows or to do his chores. 

176. What Eli Whitney used to do in his father's little work- 
shop ; the fiddle. — Eli Whitney's father used that little 
wooden building as a kind of workshop, where he mended 
chairs and did many other small jobs. Eli liked to go to 
that workshop and make little things for himself, such as 
water-wheels and windmills ; for it was as natural for him 
to use tools as it was to whistle. 

Once when Eli's father was gone from home for several 
days, the boy was very busy all the while in the little shop. 
When Mr. Whitney came back he asked his housekeeper, 
''What has Eli been doing.?" "Oh," she replied, '* he 
has been making a fiddle." His father shook his head. 



1 See map on page 102. 



138 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

and said that he was afraid Eli would never get on much 
in the world. But Eli's fiddle, though it was rough-look- 
ing, was well made. It had music in it, and the neighbors 
liked to hear it : somehow it seemed to say through all 
the tunes played on it, " Whatever is zvortJi doing, is zvorth 
doing zuel/y 

111. Eli Whitney begins making nails ; he goes to college. — 
When Eli was fifteen, he began making nails. We have 
machines to-day which will make more than a hundred 
nails a minute ; but Eli made his, one by one, by pound- 
ing them out of a long, slender bar of red-hot iron. Whit- 
ney's hand-made nails were not handsome, but they were 
strong and tough, and as the Revolutionary War was then 
going on, he could sell all he could make. 

After the war was over the demand for nails was not so 
good. Then Whitney threw down his hammer, and said, " I 
am going to college." He had no money; but he worked 
his way through Yale College, partly by teaching and partly 
by doing little jobs with his tools. A carpenter who saw 
him at work one day, noticed how neatly and skilfully he 
used his tools, and said, " There was one good mechanic 
spoiled when you went to college." 

178. Whitney goes to Georgia; he stops with Mrs. General 
Greene ; the embroidery frame. — When the young man had 
completed his course of study he went to Georgia to teach 
in a gentleman's family. On the way to Savannah he 
became acquainted with Mrs. Greene, the widow of the 
famous General Greene ^ of Rhode Island. General Greene 
had done such excellent fighting in the south during the 
Revolution that, after the war was over, the state of Georgia 
gave him a large piece of land near Savannah. 

Mrs. Greene invited young Whitney to her house ; as 

1 General Greene : see page 109. 



ELI WHITNEY. 1 39 

he had been disappointed in getting the place to teach, he 
was very glad to accept her kind invitation. While he 
was there he made her an embroidery frame. It was 
much better than the old one that she had been using, 
and she thought the maker of it was wonderfully skilful. 

179. A talk about raising cotton, and about cotton seeds. — 
Not long after this, a number of cotton-planters were at 
Mrs. Greene's house. In speaking about raising cotton 
they said that the man who could invent a machine for 
stripping off the cotton seeds from the plant would make 
his fortune. 

For what is called raw cotton or cotton wool, as it grows 
in the field, has a great number of little green seeds cling- 
ing to it. Before the cotton wool can be /'' ia, 
spun into thread and woven into cloth, 
those seeds must be pulled off. 

At that time the planters set the ne- 
groes to do this. When they had finished 
their day's labor of gathering the cotton ^''^ o^" ™e cotton 

^ o tj Plant when ripe 

in the cotton field, the men, women, and and open. 
children would sit down and pick off On the right a seed with 

^ the wool attached; on 

the seeds, which stick to the cotton like the left the seed after 

the wool has been 
glue. picked off. 

After the planters had talked awhile about this work, 
Mrs. Greene said, *'If you want a machine to do it, you 
should apply to my young friend, Mr. Whitney ; he can 
make anything." "But," said Mr. Whitney, "I have never 
seen a cotton plant or a cotton seed in my life " ; for it was 
not the time of year then to see it growing in the fields. 

180. Whitney gets some cotton wool ; he invents the cotton- 
gin ; what that machine did. — After the planters had gone, 
Eli Whitney went to Savannah and hunted about until 
he found, in some store or warehouse, a little cotton 




140 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



wool with the seeds left on it. He took this back with 

him and set to work to make a machine which would 

strip off the seeds. 

He said to himself, If I fasten some upright pieces 

of wire in a board, 
and have the wires set 
very close together, like 
the teeth of a comb, and 
then pull the cotton wool 
through the wires with my 
fingers, the seeds, being 
too large to come through, 
will be torn off and left 
behind. He tried it, and 
found that the cotton wool 
'^ came through without any 
' seeds on it. Now, said he, 
if I should make a wheel, 
and cover it with short 
steel teeth, shaped like 
hooks, those teeth would 
pull the cotton wool 
through the wires better 

than my fingers do, and very much faster. 

He made such a wheel; it was turned by a crank; 

it did the work perfectly; so, in the year 1793, he had 

invented the machine the 

planters wanted. 

Before that time it used 

to take one negro all day 

to clean a single pound 

of cotton of its seeds by 

. 1 . ^1 rr 1 Whitney's first Contrivance for pulling 

pickmg them off one by off the Cotton Seeds. 




Negroes gathering Cotton in the Field. 




ELI WHITNEY. 



14] 




Carrying Cotton to the Cotton-gin. 



one; now, Eli Whitney's cotton-gin, ^ as he called his ma- 
chine, would clean a thousand pounds in a day. 

181. Price of common cotton cloth to-day; what makes 

it so cheap ; *' King Cotton." — To-day nothing is much 

cheaper than 

common cotton 

cloth. You can 

buy it for ten or 

twelve cents a 

yard, but before 

Whitney invented 

his cotton-gin it 

sold for a dollar 

and a half a yard. 

A hundred years ago the planters at the south raised very 

little cotton, for few people could afford to wear it ; 

but after this wonderful machine was made, the planters 

kept making their fields bigger and bigger. At last they 
raised so much more of this plant 
than of anything else, that they 
said, " Cotton is king." It was Eli 
Whitney who built the throne for 
that king ; and although he did not 
make a fortune by his machine, yet 
he received a good deal of money 
for the use of it in some of the 
) southern states. 
, ;■ Later, Mr. Whitney built a gun- 

The "Star Spangled Banner." 2 faCtOry near NcW HaVCU, Con- 

1 Gin : a shortened form of the word evgiiie, meaning any kind of a ma- 
chine. 

2 In the war of 1812 the British war-ships attacked Fort McHenry, one of the 
defences of Baltimore. Francis Scott Key, a native of Maryland, who was then de- 
tained on board a British man-of-war, an.xiously watched the battle during the night ; 




142 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

necticut, at a place now called Whitneyville ; at that fac- 
tory he made thousands of the muskets which we used in 
our second war with England in 1812. 

182. Summary. — About a hundred years ago (1793), 
Eli Whitney of Westboro', Massachusetts, invented the 
cotton-gin, a machine for pulling off the green seeds from 
cotton wool, so that it may be easily woven into cloth. 
That machine made thousands of cotton-planters and cot- 
ton manufacturers rich, and by it cotton cloth became so 
cheap that everybody could afford to use it. 

What name did a boy cut on a door ? What did EH make in that workshop ? 
What did he make while his father was away ? What did his father say ? Whiat 
did Eli's fiddle seem to say ? What did Eli make next ? How did he make 
his nails ? Where did he go after he gave up making nails ? When he left 
college where did he go ? What lady did he become acquainted with ? What 
did he make for her ? What did the cotton-planters say ? What must be done 
to raw cotton before it can be made into cloth ? Who did this work ? What 
did Mrs. Greene say to the planters ? What did Mr. Whitney say ? What did 
he do ? Tell how he made his machine. What did he call it ? How many 
pounds of cotton would his cotton-gin clean in a day ? How much could one 
negro clean ? What is said about the price of cotton cloth ? What did the 
planters say about cotton ? Who built the throne for King Cotton ? What did 
Mr. Whitney build at Whitneyville ? What did he make there ? 



THOMAS JEFFERSON 

(1743-1826). 

183. How much cotton New Orleans sends to Europe ; Eli 
Whitney's work; who it was that bought New Orleans and 
Louisiana for us. — To-day the city of New Orleans, near 

before dawn the firing ceased. Key had no means of telling whether the British 
had taken the fort until the sun rose ; then, to his joy, he saw the American flag still 
floating triumphantly above the fort — that meant that the British had failed in their 
attack, and Key, in his delight, hastily wrote the song of the Star Spangled Banner 
on the back of a letter which he had in his pocket. The song was at once printed, 
and in a few weeks it was known and sung from one end of the United States to the 
other. 




THOMAS JEFFERSON. I43 

the mouth of the Mississippi River, sends more cotton to 
England and Europe than any other city in America. 

If you should visit that city and go down to the river- 
side, you would see thousands of cotton bales ^ piled up, 
and hundreds of negroes load- 
ing them on ocean steamers. It 
would be a sight you would 
never forget. 

Before Eli Whitney ^ invented 
his machine, we sent hardly 
a bale of cotton abroad. Now 
we send so much in one year ^^^^'^^ ^°"°^ ^^ ^^^^' Orleans. 
that the bales can be counted by millions. If they 
were laid end to end, in a straight line, they would reach 
clear across the American continent from San Fran- 
cisco to New York, and then clear across the ocean from 
New York to Liverpool, England. It was Eli Whitney, 
more than any other man, who helped to build up this 
great trade. But at the time when he invented his cotton- 
gin, we did not own New Orleans, or, for that matter, any 
part of Louisiana or of the country west of the Mississippi 
River. The man who bought New Orleans and Louisiana 
for us was Thomas Jefferson. 

184. Who Thomas Jefferson was ; Monticello ; how Jeffer- 
son's slaves met him when he came home from Europe. — 
Thomas Jefferson was the son of a rich planter who lived 
near Charlottesville in Virginia.^ When his father died, he 
came into possession of a plantation of nearly two thousand 
acres of land, with forty or fifty negro slaves on it. 

1 A bale or bundle of cotton is usually somewhat more than five feet long, and it 
generally weighs from 400 to 550 pounds. The cotton crop of this country in 1891 
amounted to more than 8,650,000 bales ; laid end to end, in a straight line, these 
bales would extend more than 8000 miles. 

2 See page 139. ^ See map on page no. 



44 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



There was a high hill on the plantation, which Jefferson 
called Monticello, or the little mountain. Here he built 
a fine house. From it he could see the mountains and 
valleys of the Blue Ridge for an immense distance. No 
man in America had a more beautiful home, or enjoyed it 








Jefferson's Home at Monticello. 



more, than Thomas 
Jefferson Jefferson's 
slaves thought that no 
one could be better 
than their master. He 
was always kind to 
them, and they were 
ready to do anything 
for him. Once when he came back from France, where 
he had been staying for a long time, the negroes went to" 
meet his carriage. They walked several miles down the 
road ; when they caught sight of the carriage, they shouted 
and sang with delight. They would gladly have taken out 
the horses and drawn it up the steep hill. When Jefferson 
reached Monticello and got out, the negroes took him in 
their arms, and, laughing and crying for joy, they carried 
him into the house. Perhaps no king ever got such a 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



145 



welcome as that ; for that welcome was not bought with 
money : it came from the heart. Yet Jefferson hoped and 
prayed that the time would come when every slave in the 
country might be set free. 

185. Thomas Jefferson hears Patrick Henry speak at Rich- 
mond. — Jefferson was educated to be a lawyer; he was 
not a good public speaker, but he liked to hear men who 
were. Just before the beginning of the Revolutionary 
War (1775), the people of Virginia sent men to the city of 
Richmond to hold a meeting in old St. John's Church. 
They met to see what should be done about defending 
those rights which the 
king of England had re- 
fused to grant the Amer- 
icans. 

One of the speakers at 
that meeting was a fa- 
mous Virginian named 
Patrick Henry. When 
he got up to speak he 
looked very pale, but his 
eyes shone like coals of 
fire. He made a great 
speech. He said, "We 
must fight ! I repeat it, 
sir, — we must fight ! " 
The other Virginians 
agreed with Patrick Hen- 
ry, and George Wash- 
ington and Thomas Jefferson, with other noted men who 
were present at the meeting, began at once to make ready 
to fight. 




We must Fight! 



146 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



186. Thomas Jefferson writes the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence ; how it was sent through the country. — Shortly after 
this the great war began. In a little over a year from the 
time when the first battle was fought, Congress asked 
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and some others to 
write the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson really 
wrote almost every word of it. He was called the " Pen 
of the Revolution " ; for he could write quite as well as 
Patrick Henry could speak. 

The Declaration was printed and carried by men mounted 
on fast horses all over the United States. When men 
heard it, they rang the church bells and sent up cheer 




after cheer. General Washington had the Declaration 
read to all the soldiers in his army, and if powder had not 
been so scarce, they would have fired off every gun for joy. 

187. Jefferson is chosen President of the United States ; what 
he said about New Orleans. — A number of years after the 
war was over Jefferson was chosen President of the United 
States ; while he was President he did something for the 
country which will never be forgotten. 

Louisiana and the city of New Orleans, with the lower 
part of the Mississippi River, then belonged to the French ; 
for at that time the United States only reached west as far 
as the Mississippi River. Now as New Orleans stands 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. I47 

near the mouth of that river, the French could say, if they 
chose, what vessels should go out to sea, and what should 
come in. So far, then, as that part of America was con- 
cerned, we were like a man who owns a house while an- 
other man owns one of the doors to it. The man who has 
the door could say to the owner of the house, I shall stand 



Map showing the extent of the United States at the close of the Revolution, and also when 
Jefferson became President (1801). 

here on the steps, and you must pay me so many dollars 
every time you go out and every time you come in this 
way. 

Jefferson saw that so long as the French held the door 
of New Orleans, we should not be free to send our cotton 
down the river and across the ocean to Europe. He said 
we must have that door, no matter how much it costs. 

188. Jefferson buys New Orleans and Louisiana for the 
United States. — Mr. Robert R. Livingston, one of the 



14S 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



signers of the Declaration of Independence, was in France 
at that time, and Jefferson sent over to him to see if he 
could buy New Orleans for the United States. Napoleon 
Bonaparte 1 then ruled France. He said, I want money 
to purchase war-ships with, so that I can fight England ; I 
will sell not only New Orleans, but all Louisiana besides, 
for fifteen millions of dollars. That was cheap enough, 
and so in 1803 President Jefferson bought it. 




Map showing how much larger President Jefferson made the United States by buying Louis- 
iana in 1803. (The Oregon country is marked in bars to show that the ownership of it 
was disputed; England and the United States both claimed it.) 

If you look on the map^ you will see that Louisiana 
then was not simply a good-sized state, as it is now, but 
an immense country reaching clear back to the Rocky 
Mountains. It was really larger than the whole United 
States east of the Mississippi River. So, through Presi- 

1 Napoleon Bonaparte (Na-po'Ie-on Bo'na-part). 

2 See map on page 148, and compare map on page 147. 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. I49 

dent Jefferson's purchase, we added so much land that 
we now had more than twice as much as we had before, 
and we had got the whole Mississippi River, the city of 
New Orleans, and what is now the great city of St. Louis 
besides. 

189. Death of Jefferson; the words cut on his gravestone. 
— Jefferson lived to be an old man. He died at Monti- 
cello on the Fourth of July, 1826, just fifty years, to a 
day, after he had signed the Declaration of Independence. 
John Adams, who had been President next before Jeffer- 
son, died a few hours later. So America lost two of her 
great men on the same day. 

Jefferson was buried at Monticello. He asked to have 
these words, with some others, cut on his gravestone : — 

Here Lies Buried 

THOMAS JEFFERSON, 

Author of the Declaration of American Independence. 

190. Summary. — Thomas Jefferson of Virginia wrote 
the Declaration of Independence. After he became Pres- 
ident of the United States, he bought Louisiana for us. 
The purchase of Louisiana, with New Orleans, gave us 
the right to send our ships to sea by way of the Mississippi 
River, which now belonged to us. Louisiana added so much 
land that it more than doubled the size of the United States. 

Before Whitney invented his cotton-gin how much cotton did we send abroad ? 
How much do we send from New Orleans now ? Did we own New Orleans or 
Louisiana when Whitney invented his cotton-gin ? Who bought them for us ? Who 
was Thomas Jefferson ? What is said about Monticello ? Tell how Jefferson's 
slaves welcomed him home. For what profession was Jefferson educated? Tell 
about Patrick Henry. What did he say ? What did Washington and Jefferson 
do ? What did Jefferson write ? What was he called ? How was the Declaration 
sent to all parts of the country ? What was Jefferson chosen to be ? To whom did 
New Orleans and Louisiana then belong ? How far did the United States then ex- 
tend towards the west ? What could the French say ? What were we like ? What 
did Jefferson say ? Did we buy it ? How much did we pay ? How large was 
Louisiana then ? How much land did we get ? What else did we get ? When 
did Jefferson die ? What other great man died on the same day ? What words did 
Jefferson have cut on his gravestone at Monticello ? 



150 THE BEGINNERS AMERICAN HISTORY. 

ROBERT FULTON - 

(1765-1815). 

191. What Mr. Livingston said about Louisiana; a small 
family in a big house ; settlements in the west ; the country 
beyond the Mississippi River. — Even before we bought the 
great Louisiana country, we had more land than we then 
knew what to do with ; after we had purchased it, it seemed 
to some people as though we should not want to use what 
we had bought for more than a hundred years. Such 
people thought that we were like a man with a small 
family who lives in a house much too large for him ; but 
who, not contented with that, buys his neighbor's house, 
which is bigger still, and adds it to his own. 

If a traveller in those days went across the Alleghany 
Mountains ^ to the west, he found some small settlements 
in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, but hardly any outside 
of those. What are now the great states of Indiana, Illi- 
nois, Michigan, and Wisconsin were then a wilderness ; 
and this was also true of what are now the states of 
Alabama and Mississippi. 

If the same traveller, pushing forward, on foot or on 
horseback, — for there were no steam cars, — crossed the 
Mississippi River, he could hardly find a white man out- 
side what was then the little town of St. Louis. The 
country stretched away west for more than a thousand 
miles, with nothing in it but wild beasts and Indians. In 
much of it there were no trees, no houses, no human beings. 
If you shouted as hard as you could in that solitary land, 
the only reply you would hear would be the echo of your 
own voice ; it was like shouting in an empty room — it 
made it seem lonelier than ever. 

1 See map on page no. 



ROBERT FULTON. I5I 

192. Emigration to the west, and the man who helped that 
emigration. — But during the last hundred years that great 
empty land of the far west has been filling up with people. 
Thousands upon thousands of emigrants have gone there. 
They have built towns and cities and railroads and tele- 
graph lines. Thousands more are going and will go. 
What has made such a wonderful change ? Well, one 
man helped to do a great deal toward it. His name was 
Robert Fulton. He saw how difficult it was for people to 
get west ; for if emigrants wanted to go with their families 
in wagons, they had to chop roads through the forest. 
That was slow, hard work. Fulton found a way that was 
quick, easy, and cheap. Let us see who he was, and how 
he found that way. 

193. Robert Fulton's boyhood ; the old scow ; what Robert 
did for his mother. — Robert Fulton was the son of a poor 
Irish farmer in Pennsylvania.^ He did not care much for 
books, but liked to draw pictures with pencils which he 
hammered out of pieces of lead. 

Like most boys, he was fond of fishing. He used to go 
out in an old scow, or flat-bottomed boat, on a river near 
his home. He and another boy would push the scow 
along with poles. But Robert said. There is an easier way 
to make this boat ^., 

go. I can put a 
pair of paddle- 
wheels on her, 
and then we can 
sit comfortably "^ 

Robert Fulton's Paddle-wheel Scow. 

on the seat and 

turn the wheels by a crank. He tried it, and found that 

1 Fulton was born in Little Britain (now called Fulton) in Lancaster County, 
Pennsylvania. See map on page 102. 




152 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



he was right. The boys now had a boat which suited 
them exactly. 

When Robert was seventeen, he went to Philadelphia. 
His father was dead, and he earned his living and helped 
his mother and sisters, by painting pictures. He staid in 
Philadelphia until he was twenty-one. By that time he 
had saved up money enough to buy a small farm for his 
mother, so that she might have a home of her own. 

194. Fulton goes to England and to France ; his iron bridges ; 
his diving-boat, and what he did with it in France. — Soon 
after buying the farm for his mother, young Fulton went 
to England and then to France. He staid in those coun- 
tries twenty years. In England Fulton built some famous 
iron bridges, but he was more interested in boats than in 
anything else. 



While he was in France he 




Fulton's Diving-Boat. 

(Going under water to fasten a torpedo on the bot- 
tom of a vessel.) 



made what he called a 
diving-boat. It would 
go under water nearly 
as well as it would on 
top, so that wherever a 
fish could go, Fulton 
could follow him. His 
object in building such 
a boat was to make war 
in a new way. When 
a swordfish ^ attacks a 
whale, he slips round 
under him and stabs the 
monster with his sword. 



Fulton said, 'If an enemy's war-ship should come into the 
harbor to do mischief, I can get into my diving-boat, slip 

1 Swordfish : the name given to a large fish which has a sword-like weapon, 
several feet in length, projecting from its upper jaw. 



ROBERT FULTON. 153 

under the ship, fasten a torpedo ^ to it, and blow the ship 
"sky high.'" 

Napoleon Bonaparte liked nothing so much as war, 
and he let Fulton have an old vessel to see if he could 
blow it up. He tried it, and everything happened as 
he expected : nothing was left of the vessel but the pieces. 

195. What Fulton did in England with his diving-boat: 
what he said about America. 
— Then Fulton went back 
to England and tried the 
same thing there. He went 
out in his diving-bpat and 
fastened a torpedo under 
a vessel, and when the 
torpedo exploded, the ves- 
sel, as he said, went up 
like a ''bag of feathers," 

. . What the Torpedo did. 

flymg ni all directions. 

The EngHsh people paid Fulton seventy-five thousand 
dollars for showing them what he could do in this way. 
Then they offered to give him a great deal more — in 
fact, to make him a very rich man — if he would promise 
never to let any other country know just how he blew 
vessels up. But Fulton said, ' I am an American ; and 
if America should ever want to use my diving-boat in 
war, she shall have it first of all.' 

196. Fulton makes his first steamboat. — But while Ful- 
ton was doing these things with his diving-boat, he was 
always thinking of the paddle-wheel scow he used to 
fish in when a boy. I turned those paddle-wheels by 
a crank, said he, but what is to hinder my putting a 

1 Torpedo : here a can filled with powder, and so constructed that it could be 
fastened to the bottom of a vessel. 




54 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



Steam engine into such a boat, and making it turn the 
crank for me ? that would be a steamboat. Such boats 
had already been tried, but, for one reason or another, 
they had not got on very well. Robert R. Livingston 
was still in France, and he helped Fulton build his first 
steamboat. It was put on a river there ; it moved, and 
that was about all. 

197. Robert Fulton and Mr. Livingston go to New York 
and build a steamboat; the trip up the Hudson River. — 
But Robert Fulton and Mr. Livingston both believed 
that a steamboat could be built that would go, and that 
would keep going. So they went to New York and 
built one there. 

In the summer of 1807 a great crowd gathered to see 
the boat start on her voyage up the Hudson River. They 
joked and laughed as crowds will at anything new. They 
called Fulton a fool and Livingston another. But when 

Fulton, standing on the 
deck of his steamboat, 
waved his hand, and the 
wheels began to turn, 
and the vessel began to 
move up the river, then 
the crowd became si- 
lent with astonishment. 
Now it was Fulton's 
turn to laugh, and in 
such a case the man who 
laughs last has a right to laugh the loudest. 

Up the river Fulton kept going. He passed the Pali- 
sades 1 ; he passed the Highlands ^ ; still he kept on, and at 

^ See map on page 34. 
2 See map on page 34. 




Fulton's Steamer leaving New York; for 
Albany. 



ROBERT FULTON. 155 

last he reached Albany, a hundred and fifty miles above 
New York. 

Nobody before had ever seen such a sight as that boat 
moving up the river without the help of oars or sails ; but 
from that time people saw it every day. When Fulton got 
back to New York in his steamboat, everybody wanted to 
shake hands with him — the crowd, instead of shouting 
fool, now whispered among themselves, He's a great man 
— a very great man, indeed. 

198. The first steamboat in the west; the Great Shake. — 
Four years later Fulton built a steamboat for the west. 
In the autumn of 1811 it started from Pittsburgh to go 
down the Ohio River, and then down the Mississippi to 
New Orleans. The people of the west had never seen 
a steamboat before, and when the Indians saw the smoke 
puffing out, they called it the "Big Fire Canoe." 

On the way down the river there was a terrible earth- 
quake. In some places it changed the course of the Ohio 
so that where there had been dry land there was now deep 
water, and where there had been deep water there was 
now dry land. One evening the captain of the " Big 
Fire Canoe " fastened his vessel to a large tree on the end 
of an island. In the morning the people on the steamboat 
looked out, but could not tell where they were ; the island 
had gone : the earthquake had carried it away. The In- 
dians called the earthquake the " Big Shake " : it was a 
good name, for it kept on shaking that part of the country, 
and doing all sorts of damage for weeks. 

199. The <'Big Fire Canoe" on the Mississippi; the fight 
between steam and the Great River; what steamboats did; 
Robert Fulton's grave. — When the steamboat reached the 
Mississippi, the settlers on that river said that the boat 

1 Pittsburg : see map on page 102. 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



1 



kmlm 
^11 it 

;i ill 



* 



?A 



would never be able to go back, because 
the current is so strong. At one place a 
crowd had gathered to see her as she 
turned against the current, in order to 
come up to the landing-place. An old 
negro stood watching the boat. It looked 
as if in spite of all the captain could do 
she would be carried down stream, but 
at last steam conquered, and the boat 
came up to the shore. Then the old 
negro could hold in no longer : he threw 
up his ragged straw hat and shouted, 
' Hoo-ray ! hoo-ray ! the old Mississippi's 
just got her master this time, sure ! ' 

Soon steamboats began to run regu- 
larly on the Mississippi, and in the course 
of a few years they began to move ujd 
and down the Great Lakes and the Mis- 
souri River. Emigrants could now go 
to the west and the far west quickly 
and easily : they had to thank Robert 
Fulton for that. 

Robert Fulton lies buried in 

New York, in the shadow of the 

tower of Trinity Church. There 

is no monument or mark over his 

^ CTave, but he has a monument 

t ^^. , in every steamboat on every great 

^^ ' river and lake in America. 

^-' 200. Summary. — In 1807 Rob- 

Vu^^ ert Fulton of Pennsylvania built 

'^ M^ the first steamboat which ran on 

the Hudson River, and four years 



TowEK OF Tkinitv Church. 



GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 



157 



later he built the first one which navigated the rivers 
of the west. His boats helped to fill the whole western 
country with settlers. 

What did Mr. Livingston say about Louisiana ? What did such people think 
we were like ? What would a traveller going west then find ? What is said of the 
country west of the Mississippi ? Who helped emigration to the west ? Wiiat did 
he find ? Tell about Robert Fulton as a boy. Tell about his paddle-wheel scow. 
What did Robert do for his mother ? Where did he go ? How long did he stay 
abroad ? Tell about his diving-boat. What did he do with it in France ? What 
in England ? What did the English people offer him ? What did Fulton say ? 
Where did Fulton make and try his first steamboat ? Tell about the steamboat he 
made in New York. How far up the Hudson did it go ? Tell about the first steam- 
boat at the west. What did the Indians call it ? What happened on the way down 
the Ohio River ? Tell about the steamboat on the Mississippi River. What is 
said of steamboats at the west ? What about emigrants ? Where is Fulton buried ? 
Where is his monument ? 



5j«<C 



GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON 

(1773-1841). 

201. War with the Indians ; how the Indians felt about being 
forced to leave their homes ; the story of the log. — The year 
181 1, in which the first steamboat went west, a great bat- 
tle was fought with the Indians. The battle-ground 
was on the Tippecanoe ^ River, in what is now the state of 
Indiana. 

The Indians fought because they 
wanted to keep the west for them- 
selves. They felt as an old chief 
did, who had been forced to move 
many times by the white men. One 
day a military officer came to his wig- 
wam to tell him that he and his tribe 
must 0:0 still further west. The chief 




said, General, let's sit down on this log and talk it over. 



1 Tippecanoe : see map on page 157. 




158 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

So they both sat down. After they had talked a short 
time, the chief said, Please move a little further that 
way ; I haven't room enough. The officer moved along. 
In a few minutes the chief asked him to move again, and 

he did so. Presently the chief 
gave him a push and said. Do 
move further on, won't you ? I 
can't, said the general. Why 
not } asked the chief. Because 
I've got to the end of the log, 
replied the officer. Well, said 
the Indian, now you see how it 
is with us. You white men have 

" Move on." , , . , m 1 

kept pushmg us on until you have 
pushed us clear to the end of our country, and yet you 
come now and say, Move on, move on. 

202. What Tecumseh ^ and his brother, the " Prophet," ^ tried 
to do. — A famous Indian warrior named Tecumseh deter- 
mined to band the different Indian tribes together, and 
drive out the white men from the west. 

Tecumseh had a brother called the " Prophet," who pre- 
tended he could tell what would happen in the future. 
He said. The white traders come here, give the Indians 
whiskey, get them drunk, and then cheat them out of their 
lands. Once we owned this whole country ; now, if an 
Indian strips a little bark off of a tree to shelter him when 
it rains, a white man steps up, with a gun in his hand, and 
says. That's my tree ; let it alone, or I'll shoot you. 

Then the " Prophet " said to the red men. Stop drink- 
ing " fire-water," ^ and you will have strength to kill off the 

1 Tecumseh (Te-kum'seh). 

2 Prophet (prof'et) : one who tells what will happen in the future. 

3 Fire-water : the Indian name for whiskey. 



GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 



59 



"pale-faces" and get your land back again. When you, 
have killed them off, I will bless the earth. I will make 
pumpkins ^ grow to be as big as wigwams, and the corn 
shall be so large that one ear will be enough for a dinner 
for a dozen hungry Indians. The Indians liked to hear 
these things ; they wanted to taste those pumpkins and 
that corn, and so they got ready to fight. 

203. Who William Henry Harrison was ; the march to Tippe- 
canoe ; the '' Prophet's " sacred beans ; the battle of Tippecanoe. 
— At this time William Henry Harrison ^ was governor of 
Indiana territory. He had fought under General Wayne ^ 
in his war with the In- 
dians in Ohio. Everybody 
knew Governor Harrison's 
courage, and the Indians 
all respected him ; but he 
tried in vain to prevent 
the Indians from going to 
war. The *' Prophet " 
urged them on at the 
north, and Tecumseh had 
gone south to persuade 
the Indians there to join 
the northern tribes. 

Governor Harrison saw that a battle must soon be fought; 
so he started with his soldiers to meet the Indians. He 
marched to the Tippecanoe River, and there he stopped. 

While Harrison's men were asleep in the woods, the 
" Prophet " told the Indians not to wait, but to attack the 

1 Pumpkins (pump'kins). 

2 William Henry Harrison was born in Berkeley, Charles City County, Virginia, 
about twenty-five miles below Richmond. His father, Governor Harrison of Vir- 
ginia, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. 

3 See page 136. 







Governor Harrison talking with the 
" Prophet." 




i6o 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



soldiers at once. In his hand he held up a string of beans. 
These beans, said he to the Indians, are sacred. ^ Come 
and touch them, and you are safe ; no white man's bullet 
can hit you. The Indians hurried up in crowds to touch 
the wonderful beans. 

Now, said the " Prophet," let each one take his hatchet 
in one hand and his gun in the other, and creep through 
the tall grass till he gets to the edge of the woods. 
The soldiers lie there fast asleep ; when you get close to 
them, spring up and at them like a wild-cat at a rabbit. 

The Indians started to do this, but a soldier on guard 
saw the tall grass moving as though a great snake was 
gliding through it. He fired his gun at the moving grass ; 
\Vith a yell up sprang the whole band of Indians, and 
rushed forward : in a moment the battle began. 

Harrison won the victory. He not only killed many 

of the Indians, but he 
marched against their 
village, set fire to it, and 
burned it to ashes. 

After that the Indians 
in that part of the coun- 
try would not listen to 
the "Prophet." They 
said, He is a liar; his 
beans didn't save us. 

The battle of Tippe- 
canoe did much good, 
because it prevented the Indian tribes from uniting and 
beginning a great war all through the west. Governor 
Harrison received high praise for what he had done, and 
was made a general in the United States army. 




The Battle of Tippecanoe. 



Sacred : something holy, or set apart for religious uses. 



GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 



l6l 



204. Tecumseh takes the "Prophet" by the hair; the War 
of 1812; General Harrison's battle in Canada; President Har- 
rison. — When Tecumseh came back from the south, he 
was terribly angry with his brother for fighting before he 
was ready to have him begin. He seized the '' Prophet " 
by his long hair, and shook him as a terrier ^ shakes a rat. 
Tecumseh then left the United States and went to Canada 
to help the British, who were getting ready to fight us. 

The next year (1812) we began our second war with 
England. It is called the War of 18 12. One of the chief 
reasons why we fought was that the British would not let 
our merchant ships alone ; they stopped them at sea, took 
thousands of our sailors out of them, and forced the men 
to serve in their war-ships in their battles against the 
French. 






^■>v >;V 






The Capitol at Washington in Flames in the War of 1812. 



In the course of the War of 1812 the British burned 
the Capitol at Washington ; but a grander building rose 
from its ashes. General Harrison fought a battle in Can- 
ada in which he defeated the British and killed Tecumseh, 
who was fighting on the side of the EngHsh. 



1 Terrier (ter'ri-er) : a kind of small hunting-dog. 



l62 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY 

k 

Many years after this 
of the west said, 
the '' Hero of ^ '■ 

for President 
ted States. -^ 



battle, the people 

We must have 

Tippecanoe" 

of the Uni- 

They 




The Dome of the Capitol at Washington as it now appears. 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 163 

went to vote for him with songs and shouts, and he was 
elected. A month after he had gone to Washington, 
President Harrison died (1841), and the whole country was 
filled with sorrow. 

205. Summary. — In 181 1 General Harrison gained a 
great victory over the Indians at Tippecanoe, in Indiana. 
By that victory he saved the west from a terrible Indian 
war. In the War of 18 12 with England General Harrison 
beat the British in a battle in Canada, and killed Tecumseh, 
the Indian chief who had made us so much trouble. Many 
years later General Harrison was elected President of the 
United States. 

Where was a great battle fought with the Indians in 1811 ? How did the In- 
dians feel about the west ? Tell the story of the log. What did Tecumseh deter- 
mine to do? Tell about the " Prophet." Who was William Henry Harrison? 
Tell about the battle of Tippecanoe. Tell about the sacred beans. What did the 
Indians say about the " Prophet " after the battle ? What good did the battle of 
Tippecanoe do ? What did Tecumseh do when he got back ? Where did he then 
go ? What happened in 1812 ? Why did we fight the British ? What did Gen- 
eral Harrison do in Canada ? What did the people of the west say ? How long 
did General Harrison live after he became President ? 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON 
(1767-1845). 

206. Andrew Jackson and the War of 1812 ; his birthplace ; 
his school ; wrestling-matches ; ^ firing off the gun. — The great- 
est battle of our second war with England — the War of 
1812 — was fought by General Andrew Jackson. 

He was the son of a poor emigrant who came from the 
North of Ireland and settled in North Carolina.^ When 



1 Wrestling (res'ling). 

2 He settled in Union County, North Carolina, very near the South Carolina 
line. See map on page no. Mecklenburg Court House is in the next county west 
of Union County. 



(64 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence 

in 1776, Andrew was nine years old, and his father had 

long been dead. He was a tall, slender, freckled-faced, 

barefooted boy, with eyes full of fun ; the neighbors called 

him " Mischievous little Andy." 

He went to school in a log hut in the pine woods ; but 

he learned more things from what he saw in the woods 

than from the books he studied in school. 

He was not a very strong boy, and in wrestling some 

of his companions could throw him three times out of four ; 

but though they could get him down without much trouble, 

it was quite another thing to keep him down. No sooner 

was he laid flat on his back, than he bounded up like a 

steel spring, and stood ready to try again. 

He had a violent^ temper, and when, as the boys said, 

"Andy got mad all over," not many cared to face him. 

Once some of his playmates secretly loaded an old gun 

almost up to the muzzle, and then 
dared him to fire it. They wanted 
to see what he would say when 
it kicked him over. Andrew fired 
the gun. It knocked him sprawl- 
ing ; he jumped up with eyes 
blazing with anger, and shaking 
his fist, cried out, " If one of you 
boys laughs, I'll kill him." He 
looked as though he meant ex- 
actly what he said, and the boys 

thought that perhaps it would be just as well to wait and 

laugh some other day. 

207. Tarleton's- attack on the Americans; how Andrew 

helped his mother. — When Andrew was thirteen, he learned 




Andy and the Gun. 



1 Violent : fierce, furious. 



2Tarleton (Tarl'ton). 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 165 

what war means. The country was then fighting the bat- 
tles of the Revokition. A British officer named Tarleton 
came suddenly upon some American soldiers near the 
place where young Jackson lived. Tarleton had so many 
men that the Americans saw that it was useless to try to 
fight, and they made no attempt to do so. The British 
should have taken them all prisoners ; but, instead of 
that, they attacked them furiously, and hacked and hewed 
them with their swords. More than a hundred of our men 
were left dead, and a still larger number were so horribly 
wounded that they could not be moved any distance. Such 
an attack was not war, for war means a fair, stand-up 
fight ; it was murder : and when the people in England 
heard what Tarleton had done, many cried Shame ! 

There was a little log meeting-house near Andrew's 
home, and it was turned into a hospital for the wounded 
men. Mrs. Jackson, with other kind-hearted women, did 
all they could for the poor fellows who lay there groaning 
and helpless. Andrew carried food and water to them. 
He had forgotten most of the lessons he learned at school, 
but here was something he would never forget. 

208. Andrew's hatred of the " red-coats " ; ^ Tarleton's sol- 
diers meet their match. — From that time, when young Jack- 
son went to the blacksmith's shop to get a hoe or a spade 
mended, he was sure to come back with a rude spear, or 
with some other weapon, which he had hammered out to 
fight the " red-coats " with. 

Tarleton said that no people in America hated the Brit- 
ish so much as those who lived where Andrew Jackson did. 
The reason was that no other British officer was so cruel 
as " Butcher Tarleton," as he was called. Once, however, 

1 Red-coats : this nickname was given by the Americans to the British soldiers 
because they wore bright red coats. 




l66 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

his men met their match. They were robbing a farm of 
its pigs and chickens and corn and hay. When they got 

through carrying things off, they 
were going to burn down the 
farm-house ; but one of the '' red- 
coats," in his haste, ran against 
a big hive of bees and upset it. 
The bees were mad enough. 
They swarmed down on the sol- 
diers, got into their ears and eyes, 
and stung them so terribly that at 
last the robbers were glad to drop 

The Bees beat the " Red-Coats." 

everythmg and run. If Andrew 
could have seen that battle, he would have laughed till he 
cried. 

209. Dangerous state of the country ; the roving bands. — 
Andrew knew that he and his mother lived in constant 
danger. Part of the people in his state were in favor of 
the king, and part were for liberty. Bands of armed men, 
belonging sometimes to one side, and sometimes to the 
other, went roving about the country. When they met a 
farmer, they would stop him and ask, * Which side are you 
for ? ' If he did not answer to suit them, the leader of the 
party would cry out, Hang him up ! In an instant one 
of the band would cut down a long piece of wild grape- 
vine, twist it into a noose, and throw it over the man's 
head ; the next moment he would be dangling from the 
limb of a tree. Sometimes the band would let him down 
again ; sometimes they would ride on and leave him hang- 
ing there. 

210. Playing at battle ; what Tarleton heard about himself. 
• — Even the children saw and heard so much of the war 
that was going on that they played at war, and fought 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 



167 



battles with red and white corn, — red for the British and 
white for the Americans. 

At the battle of Cowpens ^ Colonel William Washing- 
ton 2 fought on the American side, and Tarleton got badly 
whipped and had to run. Not long afterward he happened 
to see some boys squatting on the ground, with a lot of 
corn instead of marbles. They were playing the battle of 
Cowpens. A red kernel stood for Tarleton, and a white 
one for Colonel Washington. The boys shoved the corn 
this way and that ; sometimes the red would win, some- 
times the white. At last the white kernel gained the vic- 
tory, and the boys shouted, " Hurrah for Washington — 
Tarleton runs ! " 

Tarleton had been quietly looking on without their 
knowing it. When he saw 
how the game ended, he 
turned angrily away. He 
had seen enough of ''the 
little rebels,"^ as he called 
them. 

211. Andrew is taken pris- 
oner by the British ; •' Here, 
boy, clean those boots " ; the 
two scars. — Not long after 
our victory at Cowpens, 
Andrew Jackson was taken 
prisoner by the British. 
The officer in command of 

1 Cowpens : see page 109. 

2 Colonel William Washington was a relative of General George Washington. 

3 Rebels : this was the name which the British gave to the Americans because 
we had been forced to take up arms to overthrow the authority of the English 
king, who was still lawfully, but not justly, the ruler of this country. Had he been 
a just and upright ruler, there would probably have been no rebellion against his 
authority at that time. 




-''^^"f' 



l68 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

the soldiers had just taken off his boots, splashed with mud. 
Pointing to them, he said to Andrew, Here, boy, clean those 
boots. Andrew replied, Sir, I am a prisoner of war, and it 
is not my place'to clean boots. The officer, in a great pas- 
sion, whipped out his sword and struck a blow at the boy. It 
cut a gash on his head and another on his hand. Andrew 
Japkson lived to be an old man, but the marks of that 
blow never disappeared : he carried the scars to his grave. 

212. The prisoners in the yard of Camden jail; seeing a 
battle through a knot-hole. — Andrew was sent with other 
prisoners to Camden, South Carolina,^ and shut up in the 
jail-yard. There many fell sick and died of small-pox. 

One day some of the prisoners heard that General 
Greene — the greatest American general in the Revolu- 
tion, next to Washington — was coming to fight the Brit- 
ish at Camden. Andrew's heart leaped for joy, for he 
knew that if General Greene should win he would set all 
the prisoners at liberty. 

General Greene, with his little army, was on a hill in 
sight of the jail, but there was a high, tight board fence 
round the jail-yard, and the prisoners could not see them. 
With the help of an old razor Andrew managed to dig 
out a knot from one of the boards. Through that knot- 
hole he watched the battle. 

Our men were beaten in the fight, and Andrew saw 
their horses, with empty saddles, running wildly about. 
Then the boy turned away, sick at heart. Soon after that 
he was seized with the small-pox, and would have died of it 
if his mother had not succeeded in getting him set free. 

213. Mrs. Jackson goes to visit the American prisoners at 
Charleston ; Andrew loses his best friend ; what he said of her. 
— In the summer Mrs. Jackson made a journey on horse- 

1 Camden : see map on page no. 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 169 

back to Charleston, a hundred and sixty miles away. She 
went to carry some little comforts to the poor Amer- 
ican prisoners, who were starving and dying of disease in 
the crowded and filthy British prison-ships in the harbor. 
While visiting these unfortunate men she caught the 
fever which raged among them. Two weeks later she 
was in her grave, and Andrew, then a lad of fourteen, 
stood alone in the world. 

Years afterward, when he had risen to be a noted man, 
people would sometimes praise him because he was never 
afraid to say and do what he believed to be right ; then 
Jackson would answer, ''That I learned from my good old 
mother." 

214. Andrew begins to learn a trade; he studies law and 
goes west ; Judge Jackson ; General Jackson. — Andrew set 
to work to learn the saddler's trade, but gave it up and 
began to study law. After he became a lawyer he went 
across the mountains to Nashville, Tennessee. There he 
was made a judge. There were plenty of rough men in 
that part of the country who meant to have their own way 
in all things ; but they soon found that they must respect 
and obey Judge Jackson. They could frighten other 
judges, but it was no use to try to frighten him. Seeing 
what sort of stuff Jackson was made of, they thought that 
they should like to have such a man to lead them in battle. 
And so Judge Andrew Jackson became General Andrew 
Jackson. When trouble came with the Indians, Jackson 
proved to be the very man they needed. 

215. Tecumseh and the Indians of Alabama ; Tecumseh 
threatens to stamp his foot on the ground ; the earthquake ; 
war begins. — We have already seen how the Indian chief 
Tecumseh ^ went south to stir up the red men to make 

1 Tecumseh : see page 159. 



I/O 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY 



war on the white settlers in the west. In Alabama he 
told the Indians that if they fought they would gain a 
great victory. I see, said Tecumseh to them, that you 
don't believe what I say, and that you don't mean to 
fight. Well, I am now going north to Detroit. When 
I get there I shall stamp my foot on the ground, and 
shake down every wigwam you have. It so happened that, 
shortly after Tecumseh had gone north, a sharp shock 
of earthquake was felt in Alabama, and the wigwams were 
actually shaken down by it. When the terrified Indians 
felt their houses falling to pieces, they ran out of them, 
shouting, " Tecumseh has got to Detroit ! " 

These Indians now believed all that Tecumseh had said; 
they began to attack the white people, and they killed a 
great number of them. 

216. Jackson conquers the Indians ; the " Holy Ground " ; 
Weathersford and Jackson ; feeding the starving. — General 

Jackson marched against 
the Indians and beat them 
in battle. The Indians 
that escaped fled to a 
place they called the 
''Holy Ground." They 
believed that if a white 
man dared to set his foot 
on that ground he would 
be struck dead as if by a 
flash of lightning. Gen- 
eral Jackson and his men 
marched on to the '* Holy 
Ground," and the Indians 
found that unless they made peace they would be the ones 
who would be struck dead by his bullets. 




General Jackson and the Indian Chief. 



_^llllllA.M^i 



»i 



iffmr'i^' 



Lw 




GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. I7I 

Not long after this, a noted leader of the Indians, named 
Weathersford, rode boldly up to Jackson's tent. " Kill him ! 
kill him ! " cried Jackson's men ; but the general asked 
Weathersford into his tent. " You can kill me if you want 
to," said he to Jackson, " but I came to tell you that the 
Indian women and children are starving in the woods, and 
to ask you to help them, for they never did you any harm." 
General Jackson sent away Weathersford in safety, and 
ordered that corn should be given to feed the starving 
women and children. That act showed that he was as 
merciful as he was brave. 

217. The British send war-ships to take New Orleans ; the 
great battle and the great victory. — These things happened 
during our second war with England, or the War of 1812. 
About a year after Jackson's victory over the Indians the 
British sent an army in ships to take New Orleans. 

General Jackson now went to New Orleans, to, prevent 
the enemy from getting possession of the city. 

About four miles below the city, which stands on the 
Mississippi River,i there was a broad, deep ditch, running 
from the river into a swamp. Jackson saw that the British 
would have to cross that ditch when they marched against 
the city. For that reason he built a high bank on the 
upper side of the ditch, and placed cannon along the top 
of the bank. 

Early on Sunday morning, January 8th, 18 15, the British 
sent a rocket whizzing up into the sky; a few minutes 
afterward they sent up a second one. It was the signal 
that they were about to march to attack us. 

Just before the fight began General Jackson walked 
along among his men, who were getting ready to defend 
the ditch. He said to them, " Stand to your guns ; see 

1 See map on page 173. 



72 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



that every shot tells : give it to them, boys ! " The " boys " 
did give it to them. The British soldiers were brave men ; 
they had been in many terrible battles, and they were not 
afraid to die. They fought desperately ; they tried again 
and again to cross that ditch and climb the bank, but they 

could not do it. The fire of our 
guns cut them down just as a 
mower cuts down the tall grain 
with his scythe.^ In less than 
half an hour the great battle 
was over ; Jackson had won the 
victory and saved New Or- 
leans. We lost only eight 
killed ; the enemy lost over two 
thousand. We have never had 
a battle since with England ; 
^^^~ it is to be hoped that we never 
shall have another, for two great 
nations 2 like England and 
America, that speak the same 
language, ought to be firm and true friends. 

218. We buy Florida; General Jackson made President of 
the United States ; the first railroad. — After the battle of 
New Orleans General Jackson conquered the Indians in 
Florida, and in 1 8 19 we bought that country of Spain, and 
so made the United States much larger on the south. ^ 
This was our second great land purchase.^ 

Ten years after we got Florida General Jackson became 
President of the United States. He had fought 'his way 




Monument to General Jackson 
AT New Orleans. 



1 Scythe (sithe). 

2 Nations : a nation is a people born in the same country and living under the 
same government; as the American nation, the French nation, the English nation. 

3 See map on page 173. -* For our first land purchase see page 148. 



rPZNERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 



173 



up. Here are the four steps : first the boy, *' Andy Jack- 
son " ; then "Judge Jackson " ; then '' General Jackson " ; 
last of all, "President Jackson." 




The light parts of this map show the extent of the United States in 1819, after we had bought 
and added Florida. The black and white bars in the northwest show that the ownership 
of the Oregon country was still in dispute between the United States and Great Britain. 

Shortly after he became the chief ruler of the nation the 
first steam railroad in the United States was built (1830). 
From that time such roads kept creeping further and fur- 
ther west. The Indians had frightened the white settlers 




■54.1 a| Ttril'ti' 9 ij'm'm lAiTa B 



|4(iainj»i«fj- 







The Great Steel Railroad Bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis. 
(Built by Captain Eads, and completed in 1874.) 



1/4 THE BEGINNERS AMERICAN HISTORY. 

with their terrible war-whoop. Now it was their turn to 
be frightened, for the locomotive whistle ^ could beat their 
wildest yell. They saw that the white man was coming as 
fast as steam could carry him, and that he was determined 
to get possession of the whole land. The greater part of 
the Indians moved across the Mississippi ; but the white 
man kept following them and following the buffalo further 
and further across the country, toward the Pacific Ocean ; 
and the railroad followed in the white man's track. 

219. Summary. — Andrew Jackson of North Carolina 
gained a great victory over the Indians in Alabama and 
also in Florida. In 1815, in our second war with England, 
General Jackson whipped the British at New Orleans, and 
so prevented their getting possession of that city. A few 
years later we bought Florida of Spain. 

After General Jackson became President of the United 
States the first steam-railroad was built in this country. 
Railroads helped to settle the west and build up states 
beyond the Mississippi. 

Who fought the greatest battle of the War of 1812 ? Tell about Andrew Jack- 
son's boyhood. Tell the story of the gun. Tell about Tarleton. What did Mrs. 
Jackson do ? What did Andrew do ? What did Andrew use to do at the black- 
smith shop ? 

Tell about Tarleton's men and the bees. What did bands of armed men use to 
do in the country where Andrew lived ? Tell about playing at battle. What did 
Tarleton say ? Tell about Andrew and the boots. Tell how he saw a battle 
through a knot-hole. Tell how Andrew's mother died. What did he say about 
her? Tell about Andrew Jackson as a judge. Why was he made a general? 
Tell about Tecumseh and the Alabama Indians. After General Jackson had 
beaten the Indians, where did they go ? What is said about the " Holy Ground." 
What about Jackson and Weatherstord ? Tell about the great battle of New Or- 
leans. Who gained the victory? Wlien did we buy Florida ? What were the 
four steps in Andrew Jackson's life ? What is said about railroads ? 

1 The first steam railroad built in the United States extended from Baltimore to 
EHicott's Mills, Maryland, a distance of twelve miles. It was opened in 1830. It 
forms a part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. 




174 



Niagara Suspension Bridge. 



PROFESSOR MORSE. 1^5 

PROFESSOR MORSE 

(1791-1872). 

220. How they sent the news of the completion of the Erie 
Canal to New York City; Franklin and Morse. — ^The Erie 
Canal, in the state of New York, connects tiie Hudson 
River at Albany with Lake Erie at Buffalo. It is the 
greatest work of the kind in America, and was completed 
many years ago. When the water was let into the canal 




How THEY FLASHED THE NeWS OF THE COMPLETION OF THE ErIE CaNAL IN 1S25. 

from the lake, the news was flashed from Buffalo to 
New York City by a row of cannon, about five miles 
apart, which were fired as rapidly as possible one after the 
other. The first cannon was fired at Buffalo at ten o'clock 
in the morning ; the last was fired at New York at half- 
past eleven. In an hour and a half the sound had travelled 
over five hundred miles. Everybody said that was wonder- 
fully quick work ; but to-day we could send the news in 
less than a minute. The man who found out how to do 
this was Samuel F. B. Morse. 

We have seen how Benjamin Franklin ^ discovered, by 
means of his kite, that lightning and electricity are the same. 
Samuel Morse was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, 
about a mile from Franklin's birthplace, the year after 

1 See page 88. 



1/6 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

that great man died. He began his work where FrankUn 
left off. He said to himself, Dr. Franklin found out what 
lightning is ; I will find out how to harness it and make it 
carry news and deliver messages.^ 

221 . Morse becomes a painter ; what he thought might be 
done about sending messages. — When Samuel Morse was a 
little boy, he was fond of drawing pictures, particularly 
faces ; if he could not get a pencil, he would scratch them 
with a pin on the furniture at school : the only pay he got 
for making such pictures was some smart raps from the 
teacher. After he became a man he learned to paint. 
At one time he lived in France with several other "Ameri- 
can artists. One day they were talking of how long it 
took to get letters from America, and they were wishing 
the time could be shortened. Somebody spoke of how 
cannon had been used at the time of the opening of the 
Erie Canal. Morse was familiar with all that ; he had 
been educated at Yale College, and he knew that the 
sound of a gun will travel a mile while you are counting 
five ; but quick as that is, he wanted to find something 
better and quicker still. He said. Why not try lightning 
or electricity ? That will beat sound, for that will go 
more than a thousand miles while you are counting 

222. What a telegraph ^ is ; a wire telegraph ; Professor 
Morse invents the electric telegraph. — Some time after that, 
Mr. Morse set sail for America. On the way across the 
Atlantic he was constantly talking about electricity and 
how a telegraph — that is, a machine which would write at 
a distance — micfht be invented. He thousrht about this so 



1 Messages : a message is any word sent by one person to another. 

2 Telegraph (tel'e-graf) : this name is made up of two Greek words, the first of 
which means /ar off^ and the second to write. 



PROFESSOR MORSE. 



177 



much that he could not sleep nights. At last he believed 
that he saw how he could make such a machine. 




One kind of Telegraph. 



Suppose you take a straight and stiff piece of wire as 
long as your desk and fasten it in the middle so that the 
ends will swing easily. 
Next tie a pencil tight 
to each end ; then put 
a sheet of paper under 
the point of each pen- 
cil. Now, if you make 
a mark with the pencil 
nearest to you, you will 
find that the pencil at 
the other end of the 
wire will make the same 
kind of mark. Such 
a wire would be a kind 
of telegraph, because 
it would make marks 
or signs at a distance. 
Mr. Morse said : I will 
have a wire a mile 
long, with a pencil, 
or something sharp- 
pointed like a pencil, fastened to the further end ; the wire 
itself shall not move at all, but the pencil shall, for I will 
make electricity run along the wire and move it. Mr. 




Professor Morse at work making his Telegraph. 



178 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



Morse was then a professor or teacher in the University 
of the City of New York. He put up such a wire in one 
of the rooms of the building, sent the electricity through 
it, and found that it made the pencil make just the marks 
he wanted it should ; that meant that he had invented the 
electric telegraph; for if he could do this over a mile of 

wire, then what was to hinder 
his doing it over a hundred or 
even a thousand miles ? 

223. How Professor Morse lived 
while he was making his telegraph. 
— But all this was not done in 
a day, for this invention cost 
years of patient labor. At first, 
Mr. Morse lived in a little room 
by himself : there he worked and 
ate, when he could get anything 
to eat ; and slept, if he wasn't 
too tired to sleep. Later, he 
had a room in the university. 
While he was there he painted 
pictures to get money enough to 
buy food ; there, too (1839), he 
took the first photograph ever 
made in America. Yet with 
all his hard work there were 
times when he had to go hun- 
gry, and once he told a young 
man that if he did not get 
some money he should be dead in a week — dead of star- 
vation. 

224. Professor Morse gets help about his telegraph; what 
Alfred Vail did. — But better times were coming. A young 




i7 in 



•lilt 



A Copy of the First Photograph 
MADE IN America. 

(The tower of the Church of the Mes- 
siah, in New York. The church is 
no longer standing.) 



PROFESSOR MORSE. 179 

man named Alfred Vail ^ happened to see Professor 
Morse's telegraph. He believed it would be successful. 
He persuaded his father, Judge Vail, to lend him two 
thousand dollars, and he became Professor Morse's partner 
in the work. Mr. Vail was an excellent mechanic, and he 
made many improvements in the telegraph. He then 
made a model ^ of it at his own expense, and took it to 
Washington and got a patent ^ for it in Professor Morse's 
name. The invention was now safe in one way, for no 
one else had the right to make a telegraph like his. Yet, 
though he had this help, Professor Morse did not get on 
very fast, for a few years later he said, *' I have not a cent 
in the world ; I am crushed for want of means." 

225. Professor Morse asks Congress to help him build a 
telegraph line ; what Congress thought. — Professor Morse 
now asked Congress to let him have thirty thousand dol- 
lars to construct a telegraph Une from Washington to 
Baltimore. He felt sure that business men would be glad 
to send messages by telegraph, and to pay him for his work. 
But many members of Congress laughed at it, and said 
they might as well give Professor Morse the money to 
build *'a railroad to the moon." 

Week after week went by, and the last day that Con- 
gress would sit was reached, but still no money had been 

1 Alfred Vail : he was the son of Stephen Vail (commonly known ae Judge Vail), 
owner of the Speedwell iron-works, near Morristown, New jersey. Judge Vail 
built the engines of the Savannah, the first steamship which crossed the Atlantic. 

2 Model : a small copy or representation of something. Professor Morse made 
a small telegraph and sent it to Washington, to show what his large telegraph 
would be like. 

3 Patent : a written or printed right given by the government at Washington 
to an inventor to make something; as, for instance, a telegraph or a sewing- 
machine. The patent forbids any one except the inventor, or holder of the patent, 
from making such a machine, and so he gets whatever money comes from his 
work. In order to get a patent, a man must send a model of his invention to be 
placed in the Patent Office at Washington. 



1 8c THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY 



& 



ranted. Then came the last night of the last day 
(March 3d, 1843). Professor Morse stayed in the Senate 
Chamber 1 of Congress until after ten o'clock; then, tired 
and disappointed he went back to his hotel, thinking that 
he must give up trying to build his telegraph hne. 

226. Miss Annie Ellsworth brings good news. — The next 
morning Miss Annie G. Ellsworth met him as he was com- 
ing down to breakfast. She was the daughter of his 
friend who had charge of the Patent Office in Washing- 
ton. She came forward with a smile, grasped his hand, 
and said that she had good news for him, that Congress 
had decided to let him have the money. Surely you 
must be mistaken, said the professor, for I waited last 
night until nearly midnight, and came away because noth- 
ing had been done. But, said the young lady, my father 
stayed until it was quite midnight, and a few minutes before 
the clock struck twelve Congress voted ^ the money ; it was 
the very last thing that was done. 

Professor Morse was then a gray-haired man over fifty. 
He had worked hard for years and got nothing for his 
labor. This was his first great success. He doesn't say 
whether he laughed or cried — perhaps he felt a little like 
doing both. 

227. The first telegraph line built ; the first message sent ; 
the telegraph and the telephone^ now. — When, at length, 
Professor Morse did speak, he said to Miss Ellsworth, 
"Now, Annie, when my line is built from Washington to 

1 Senate Chamber: Congress (or the body of persons chosen to make the laws 
of the United States) is divided into two classes, — Representatives and Senators; 
they meet in different rooms or chambers in the Capitol at Washington. 

2 Voted : here this word means given or granted. 

3 Telephone : "his name is made up of two Greek words, the first of which 
means far off, and the second, a voice or sound. The telephone was invented by 
Professor Alexander G. Bell of Boston ; he completed it in 1876. Professor Bell 
now lives in Washintrton. 



PROFESSOR MORSE. 



i8i 



Baltimore, you shall send the first message over it." In 
the spring of 1844 the line was completed, and Miss Ells- 
worth sent these words over it (they 
are words taken from the Bible) : " What 
hath God wrought /" ^ 

For nearly a year after that the 
telegraph was free to all who wished 
to use it ; then a small charge was 
made, a very short message costing 
only one cent. On the first of April. 
1845, 3. man came into the office 
and bought a cent's worth of tele- 
graphing. That was all the money 
which was taken that day for the use of forty miles of 
wire. Now there are about two hundred thousand miles 
of telegraph line in the United States, or more than 
enough to reach eight times round the earth, and the mes- 
sages sent bring in over seventy thousand dollars every 




What the Birds think 
Telegraph Wires were 
put up for. 







How A Message by Telegraph is sent. 



day ; and we can telegraph not only clear across Amer- 
ica, but clear across the Atlantic Ocean by a line laid 
under the sea. Professor Morse's invention made it pos- 
sible for people to write by electricity ; but now, by means 
of the telephone, a man in New York can talk with his 



1 See Num. xxiii. 23. 

2 When the button at Chicago is pressed down, the electricity passing over the 
wire to Denver presses the point there down on the paper, and so makes a dot or 
dash which stands for a letter on the roll of paper as it passes under it. In this 
way words and messages are spelled out. The message on the strip of paper above 
is the question, Now is trade f 



1 82 THE BEGINNERS AMERICAN HISTORY. 

friend in Philadelphia, Boston, and many other large cities, 
and his friend listening at the other end of the wire can 
hear every word he says. Professor Morse did not live 
long enough to see this wonderful invention, which, in 
some ways, is an improvement even on his telegraph. 

228. Summary. — Professor Morse invented the Electric 
Telegraph. He received much help from Mr. Alfred Vail. 
In 1844 Professor Morse and Mr. Vail built the first line 
of telegraph in the United States, or in the world. It 
extended from Washington to Baltimore. The telegraph 
makes it possible for us to send a written message thou- 
sands of miles in a moment ; by the telephone, which was 
invented after Professor Morse's death, we can talk with 
people who are several hundreds of miles away and hear 
what they say in reply. 

Tell how they sent the news of the completion of the Erie Canal. What did 
Samuel Morse say to himself? Tell about Morse as a painter. What did he want 
to find ? What was he talking about on his voyage back to America ? What is a 
telegraph ? How can you make a small wire telegraph ? What did Professor 
Morse make ? How did he live ? What did he do in 1839 ? How did he get 
help about his telegraph ? What did he ask Congress to do ? What did some 
men in Congress say ? What news did Miss Annie Ellsworth bring him ? What 
was the first message sent by telegraph in 1844 ? How many miles of telegraph 
are there now in the United States ? Is there a telegraph line under the sea ? 
What is said about the telephone ? 

^J^OO 

GENERAL SAM HOUSTON 

(I 793-1 863). 

229. Sam Houston and the Indians ; Houston goes to live 
with the Indians. — When General Jackson whipped the 
Indians in Alabama, ^ a young man named Sam Houston ^ 
fought under Jackson and was terribly wounded. It was 

1 See page 170. 2 Sam Houston (Hoos'ton) : he always wrote his name 

Sam Houston ; he was born near Lexington in Rockbridge County, Virginia. 



GENERAL SAM HOUSTON. 183 

thought that the brave fellow would certainly die, but his 
strong will carried him through, and he lived to make him- 
self a great name in the southwest. 

Although Houston fought the Indians, yet, when a boy, 
he was very fond of them, and spent much of his time 
with them in the woods of Tennessee. 

Long after he became a man, this love of the wild life 
led by the red men in the forest came back to him. While 
Houston was governor of Tennessee (1829) he suddenly 
made up his mind to leave his 
home and his friends, go across 
the Mississippi River, and take 
up his abode with an Indian tribe 
in that part of the country. The 
chief, who had known him as a 
boy, gave him a hearty welcome. 
''Rest with us," he said ; "my wig- 
wam is yours." Houston stayed V5>._j/#-r 

.,, ,, . ., ,, Sam Houston. 

With the tribe three years. 

230. Houston goes to Texas; what he said he would do; 
the murders at Alamo ^ ; the flag with one star ; what Houston 
did ; Texas added to the United States ; our war with Mexico. 

— At the end of that time he said to a friend, " I am 
going to Texas, and in that new country I will make a 
man of myself." Texas then belonged to Mexico ; and 
President Andrew Jackson had tried in vain to buy it as 
Jefferson bought Louisiana. Houston said, "I will make 
it part of the United States." About twenty thousand 
Americans had already moved into Texas, and they felt as 
he did. 

War broke out between Texas and Mexico, and General 
Sam Houston led the Texan soldiers in their fight for 

1 Alamo (Al'a-mo). 




184 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

independence. He had many noted American pioneers^ 
and hunters in his little army : one of them was the brave 
Colonel Travis 2 of Alabama ; another was Colonel Bowie ^ 
of Louisiana, the inventor of the '' bowie knife " ; still 
another was Colonel David Crockett of Tennessee, whose 
motto is a good one for every young American — '' Be 
sure you're right, .then — g-o aJiead^ These men were all 
taken prisoners by the Mexicans at Fort Alamo and were 
then cruelly murdered. 

Not long after that General Houston fought a great 
battle near the city which is now called by his name.^ 
The Mexicans had more than two men 
to every one of Houston's ; but the 
Americans and Texans went into bat- 
tle shouting the terrible cry ''Remem- 
ber the Alamo!'' and the Mexicans 
fled before them like frightened sheep. 
Texas then became an independent 
state, and elected General Houston its 
president. The people of Texas raised 
The "Lone Star" f.ac. ^ flag having ou it a singlc Star. For 
this reason it was sometimes called, 
as it still is, the *' Lone Star State." 

Texas was not contented to stand alone ; she begged the 
United States to add her to its great and growing family 
of states. This was done^ in 1845. But, as we shall 
presently see, a war soon broke out (1846) between the 
United States and Mexico, and when that war was ended 
we obtained a great deal more land at the west. 

1 Pioneers : those who go before to prepare the way for others ; the first settlers 
in a country are its pioneers. 

2 Travis (Tra'vis). 3 Bowie (Bow'e). 

4 See map on page 185. 5 See map on page 185. 




GENERAL SAM HOUSTON. 



85 



231. General Sam Houston in the great war between the 
North and the South ; what he said. — We have seen the part 
which General Sam Houston took in getting new country 




Map showing the extent of the United States after we added Texas in 1845. The black and 
white bars show that the ownership of the Oregon country was still in dispute between 
the United States and Great Britain. 



to add to the United States. He lived in Texas for 
many years after that. When, in 1861, the great war 
broke out between the North and the South, General Hous- 
ton was governor of the state. He withdrew from ofifice 
and went home to his log cabin in Huntsville. He re- 
fused to take any part in the war, for he loved the Union, — 
that is, the whole country, North and South together, — and 
he said to his wife, ''My heart is broken." Before the 
war ended he was laid in his grave.^ 

232. Summary. — General Sam Houston of Tennessee 
led the people of Texas in their war against Mexico. The 



1 General Houston was buried at H'lntsville, about eighty miles northwest of 
the city of Houston, Texas. 



1 86 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

Texans gained the victory, and made their country an 
independent state with General Houston as its president. 
After a time Texas was added to the United States, We 
then had a war with Mexico, and added a great deal more 
land at the west. General Houston died during the war 
between the North and the South. 

Tell about Sam Houston and the Indians. Where did Houston go after he be- 
came governor of Tennessee ? Where did Houston go next ? What did he say 
he would do about Texas ? What was David Crockett's motto ? What is said 
about Fort Alamo ? What about the battle with the Mexicans ? What did Texas 
become ? To what office was Houston elected ? What is said of the Texas flag ? 
When was Texas added to the United States ? What war then broke out ? What 
did we get by that war ? What is said of General Houston in the great war betwren 
the North and the South ? 

CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY 

(1755-1806). 

233. Captain Gray goes to the Pacific coast to buy furs ; 
he first carries the Stars and Stripes round the globe. — Not 

long after the war of the Revolution had come to an end 
some merchants of Boston sent out two vessels to Van- 
couver ^ Island, on the northwest coast of America. The 
names of the vessels were the Columbia and the Lady 
WasJiington, and they sailed round Cape Horn into the 
Pacific. Captain Robert Gray went out as commander of 
one of these vessels.^ He was born in Rhode Island ^ and 
he had fought in one of our war-ships in the Revolution. 

Captain Gray was sent out by the Boston merchants to 
buy furs from the Indians on the Pacific coast. He had 
no difificulty in getting all he wanted, for the savages were 
glad to sell them for very little. In one case a chief let 

1 Part of the island (in black) is seen north of Portland, Oregon, on page 188. 

2 He commanded the Lady Washington at first, and afterward the Columbia. 

3 Tiverton, Rhode Island. 



CAPTAIN ROBERT GRAY. 



187 




A Sea-Ottek. 



the captain have two hundred sea-otter skins such as are 
used for ladies' sacks, and which were wortli about eight 
thousand dollars, for an old 
iron chisel. After getting a 
valuable cargo of furs, Cap- 
tain Gray sailed in the Colum- 
bia for China, where he 
bought a quantity of tea. 
He then went to the south, 
round the Cape of Good 

Hope, and keeping on toward the west he reached Boston 
in the summer of 1790. He had been 
gone about three years, and he was the 
first man who carried the American flag 
clear round the globe. 

234. Captain Gray's second voyage to the 
Pacific coast; he enters a 
great river and names it 
the Columbia; the United 
States claims the Oregon 
country ; we get Oregon in 
1846. — Captain Gray did 
not stay long at Boston, 
for he sailed again that 
autumn in the Columbia 
for the Pacific coast, to 
buy more furs. He stayed 
on that coast a long time. 
In the spring of 1792 he 
entered a great river and 
sailed up it a distance of 
nearly thirty miles. He 

Captain Gray exploring the Columbia River, 

Oregon. sccms to havc bccn the 








THE BEGINNER'S AMERICAN HISTO "^V 



first white man who had ever actually entered it. He 
named the vast stream the Columbia River, from the 
name of his vessel. It is the largest American river which 
empties into the Pacific Ocean south of Alaska.^ 




Map showing the extent of the United States after we added the Oregon Country in 1846. 

Captain Gray returned to Boston and gave an account 
of his voyage of exploration ; this led Congress to claim the 
country through which the Columbia flows ^ as part of the 
United States. 




Emigrants on their Wav to Oregon I<ift\ Years ago. 



1 The Yukon River in Alaska is larger than the Columbia. 

2 The discovery and exploration of a river usually gives the right to a claim to 
the country watered by that river, on the part of the nation to which the discoverer 
or explorer belongs. 



CAPTAIN SUTTER. 1 89 

After Captain Gray had been dead for forty years we 
came into possession, in 1846, of the immense territory 
then called the Oregon Country. It was through what he 
had done that we got our first claim to that country which 
now forms the states of Oregon and Washington. 

235. Summary. — A little over a hundred years ago 
(1790) Captain Robert Gray of Rhode Island first carried 
the American flag round the world. In 1792 he entered 
and named the Columbia River. Because he did that the 
United States claimed the country — called the Oregon 
Country — through which that river runs. In 1846 we 
added the Oregon Country to our possessions ; it now 
forms the two states of Oregon and Washington. 

Tell about Captain Gray's voyage to the Pacific coast. What did he buy there ? 
What did he first carry round the globe ? Tell about his second voyage. What 
did he do in 1792 ? What happened after Captain Gray returned to Boston ? 
What happened in 1846 ? What two states were made out of the Oregon Country ? 

CAPTAIN SUTTERi 
(1803-1880). 

236. Captain Sutter and his fort ; how the captain lived. — 

At the time when Professor Morse sent his first message 
by telegraph from Washington to Baltimore (1844), Cap- 
tain J. A. Sutter, an emigrant from Switzerland, was liv- 
ing near the Sacramento River in California. California 
then belonged to Mexico. The governor of that part of 
the country had given Captain Sutter an immense piece of 
land ; and the captain had built a fort at a point where 
a stream which he named the American River joins the 
Sacramento River.^ People then called the place Sutter's 

1 Sutter (Soo'ter). 2 See map on page 190. 



190 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 




Fort, but to-day it is Sacramento City, the capital of the 
great and rich state of California. 

In his fort Captain Sutter lived like a king. He owned 
land enough to make a thousand fair-sized farms ; he had 

twelve thousand head of cattle, 
more than ten thousand sheep, 
and over two thousand horses 
and mules. Hundreds of labor- 
ers worked for him in his wheat- 
fields, and fifty well-armed sol- 
diers guarded his fort. Quite a 
number of Americans had built 
houses near the fort. They 
thought that the time was com- 
ing when all that country would become part of the United 
States. 

237. Captain Sutter builds a saw-mill at Coloma ; ^ a man 
finds some sparkling dust. — About forty miles up the Amer- 
ican River was a place which the Mexicans called Coloma, 
or the beautiful valley. There was a good fall of water 
there and plenty of big trees to saw into boards, so Cap- 
tain Sutter sent a man named Marshall to build a saw-mill 
at that place. The captain needed such a mill very much, 
for he wanted lumber to build with and to fence his fields. 
Marshall set to work, and before the end of January, 
1848, he had built a dam across the river and got the saw- 
mill half done. One day as he was walking along the 
bank of a ditch, which had been dug back of the mill 
to carry off the water, he saw some bright yellow specks 
shining in the dirt. He gathered a little of the sparkling 
dust, washed it clean, and carried it to the house. That 
evening after the men had come in from their work on 



1 Coloma (Ko-lo'ma) : see map on page 190. 



CAPTAIN SUTTER. I9I 

the mill, Marshall said to them, ''Boys, I believe I've 
fomid a gold mine." They laughed, and one of them said, 
" I reckon not ; no such luck." 

238, Marshall takes the shining dust to Captain Sutter; 
what he did with it, and how he felt about the discovery. — 
A few days after that Marshall went down to the fort to 
see Captain Sutter, Are you alone.? he asked when he 
saw the captain. Yes, he answered. Well, won't you 




Captain Sutter's Saw-mill at Coloma, where Gold was first found. 

oblige me by locking the door; I've something I want to 
show you. The captain locked the door, and Marshall 
taking a little parcel out of his pocket, opened it and poured 
some glittering dust on a paper he had spread out. " See 
here," said he, '* I believe this is gold, but the people at 
the mill laugh at me and call me crazy." 

Captain Sutter examined it carefully. He weighed it ; 
he pounded it fiat ; he poured some strong acid on it. 
There are three very interesting things about gold. In 
the first place, it is very heavy, heavier even than lead. 
Next, it is very tough. If you hammer a piece of iron 



192 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

long enough, it will break to pieces, but you can hammer a 
piece of gold until it is thinner than the thinnest tissue 
paper, so that if you hold it up you can see the light shin- 
ing through it. Last of all, if you pour strong acids on 
gold, such acids as will eat into other metals and change 
their color, they will have no more effect on gold than an 
acid like vinegar has on a piece of glass. 

For these and other reasons most people think that 
gold is a very handsome metal, and the more they see of 
it, especially if it is their own, the better they are pleased 
with it. 

Well, the shining dust stood all these tests.^ It was 
very heavy, it was very tough, and the sharp acid did not 
hurt it. Captain Sutter and Marshall both felt sure that 
it was gold. 

But, strange to say, the captain was not pleased. He 
wished to build up an American settlement and have it 
called by his name. He did not care for a gold mine — 
why should he } for he had everything he wanted without 
it. He was afraid, too, that if gold should be discovered 
in any quantity, thousands of people would rush in ; they 
would dig up his land, and quite likely take it all away from 
him. We shall see presently whether he was right or not. 

239. War with Mexico ; Mexico lets us have California and 
New Mexico ; '' gold ! gold ! gold ! " what happened at Coloma; 
how California was settled ; what happened to Captain Sutter 
and to Marshall. — While these things were happening we 
had been at war with Mexico for two years (i 846-1 848), 
because Texas and Mexico could not agree about the west- 
ern boundary line ^ of the new state. Texas wanted to 
push that line as far west as possible so as to have more 

1 Tests : here experiments or trials made to find out what a thing is. 

2 Western boundary line : the people of Texas held that their state extended 




192 



Mirror Lake. 



CAPTAIN SUTTER. 



193 



land ; Mexico wanted to push it as far east as possible so 
as to give as little land as she could. This dispute soon 
brought on a war between the United States and Mexico. 
Soon after gold was discovered at Colonia, the war ended 
(1848); and we got not only all the land the people of 
Texas had asked for, but an immense deal more ; for we 




Map showing the extent of the United States in 1848, after Mexico let us have California 
and New Mexico. 

obtained the great territory of California and New Mexico, 
out of which a number of states and territories have since 
been made.^ 

In May, 1848, a man came to San Francisco holding up 
a bottle full of gold-dust in one hand and swinging his 
hat with the other. As he walked through the streets he 
shouted with all his might, '' Gold ! gold ! gold ! from the 
American River." 



west as far as the Rio Grande River, but Mexico insisted that the boundary line 
was at the Nueces River, which is much further east. 

1 Namely: California, Nevada, Utah, and part of Wyoming, Colorado, New 
Mexico, and Arizona. 



194 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 




Washing Dirt to get out the Gold-dust. 



Then the rush for Coloma began. Every man had a 
spacle and a pick-axe. In a httle while the beautiful valley 
was dug so full of holes that it looked like an empty honey- 
comb. The next year 
a hundred thousand 
people poured into 
California from all 
parts of the United 
States ; so -the dis- 
covery of gold filled 
up that part of the 
country with emi- 
grants years before 
they would have gone 
if no gold had been 
found there. 

Captain Sutter lost 
all his property. He would have died poor if the peo- 
ple of California had not given him money to live on. 

Marshall was still more to be pitied. He got nothing 
by his discovery. Years after he had found the shining 
dust, some one wrote to him and asked him for his photo- 
graph. He refused to send it. He said, *' My likeness 
... is, in fact, all I have that I can call my own ; and 
I feel like any other poor wretch : ^ I want something for 
self." 

240. How we bought more land ; our growth since the Revo- 
lution. — Long before Captain Sutter died, the United States 
bought from Mexico another great piece of land (1853), 
marked on the map by the name of the Gadsden Purchase. ^ 

1 Wretch : here a very unhappy and miserable person. 

2 See maps on pages 195 and 196. It was called the Gadsden Purchase, because 
General James Gadsden of South Carolina bought it from Mexico for the United 
States, in 1853. It included what is now part of Southern Arizona and N. Mexico. 



CAPTAIN SUTTER. 



195 



A number of years later (1867) we bought the territory of 
Alaska ^ from Russia. • 




• -t 



This map shows the extent of the United States in 1853 after we had added the land called 
the Gadsden Purchase, bought from Mexico; the land is marked on the map, 1853. 

The Revolution ended something over a hundred years 
ago ; if you look on the map on page 147, and compare 
it with the maps which follow, you will see how we have 
grown during that time. Then we had just thirteen states ^ 
which stretched along the shore of the Atlantic, and which 
extended west as far as the Mississippi River. 

Next (1803) we bought the great territory of Louisiana 
(see map on page 148), which has since been divided into 
many states; then (18 19) we bought Florida (see map on 
page 173) ; then (1845) we added Texas (see map on page 
185); the next year (1846) we added Oregon territory, 
since cut up into two great states (see map on page 188) ; 
then (1848) we obtained California and New Mexico (see 
map on page 193). Five years after that (1853) we bought 

1 Alaska : see map facing page 196. 

2 Thirteen states : see note on page 75. 



196 



THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 



the land then known as the Gadsden Purchase (see map 
on page 195); last of all (1867) we bought Alaska (see 
map on page 196). 

241. "Brother Jonathan's" ^ seven steps. — If you count 
up these additions, you will see that, beginning with Louis- 




The Muir Glacier, Alaska. 

iana in 1803, and ending with Alaska in 1867, they make 
just seven in all. There is a story of a giant who was so 
tall that at one long step he could go more than twenty 
miles ; but '' Brother Jonathan " can beat that, for in the 
seven steps he has taken since the Revolution he has gone 

1 " Brother Jonathan " : a name given in fun to the peojiie of the United States, 
just as " John Bull " is to the people of England. 

One explanation of the origin of the name is this: General Washington had a 
very high opinion of the good sense and sound judgment of Governor Jonathan 
I'rumbull of Connecticut. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, when no 
one seemed to know where to get a supply of powder, General Washington said to 
his officers, " We must consult Brother Jonathan on this subject." Afterwards when 
any serious difficulty arose it became a common saying in the army that " We must 
consult Brother Jonathan," and in time the name came to stand for the American 
people. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. I97 

over three thousand miles. He stands now with one foot 
on the coast of the Atlantic and with the other on that of 
the Pacific. 

242. Summary. — In January, 1848, gold was discovered 
at Captain Sutter's saw-mill at Coloma, California. Soon 
after that, Mexico let us have California and New Mexico, 
and they were added to the United States. Thousands of 
people, from all parts of the country, hurried to California 
to dig gold, and so that state grew more rapidly in popula- 
tion than any other new part of the United States ever had 
in the same length of time. Before Captain Sutter died we 
added the Gadsden Purchase and Alaska. 

Who was Captain Sutter ? Where did he live ? Tell how he lived. What did 
he begin to build at Coloma ? Tell what Marshall found there, and what was said 
about it. Tell how Marshall took the shining dust to Captain Sutter, and what the 
captain did. What made them both certain that the dust was gold ? Was the 
captain pleased with the discovery ? What did he think would happen ? What is 
said about our war with Mexico ? What did we fight about ? What did we get at 
the end of the war ? What happened in May, 1848 ? Then what happened ? How 
many people went to California ? What happened to Captain Sutter? What is 
said about Marshall ? What land did we buy in 1853 ? What in 1867 ? 

How long ago did the Revolution end ? How many states did we have then ? 
[Can any one in the class tell how many we have now ?] What land did we buy 
in 1803? Ini8i9? What did we add in 1845 ? In 1846 ? In 1848 ? What did 
we buy in 1853 ? In 1867 ? How many such additions have we made in all ? 
What could the giant do ? What has " Brother Jonathan " done ? Where is one 
foot ? Where is the other ? 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

(1809-1865). 

243. The tall man from Illinois making his first speech in 
Congress ; how he wrote his name ; what the people called him. 

— Not many days before gold was found at Sutter's saw- 
mill in California (1848), a tall, awkward-looking man from 
Illinois was making his first speech in Congress. At that 
time he generally wrote his name 



198 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 




but after he had become President of the United States, 
he often wrote it out in full, — 





The plain country people of Illinois, who knew all about 
him, liked best to call him by the title they had first given 
him, — ''Honest Abe Lincoln,'' or, for short, " Honest Abe.'' 
Let us see how he got that name. 

244. The Lincoln family move to Indiana ; " Abe " helps his 
father build a new home ; what it was like. — Abraham Lin- 
coln was born on February 12th, 1809, in a log shanty on a 
lonely little farm in Kentucky.^ When *' Abe," as he was 
called, was seven years old, his father, Thomas Lincoln, 
moved, with his family, to Indiana ;2 there the boy and 
his mother worked in the woods and helped him build a 
new home. That new home was not so good or so com- 
fortable as some of our cow-sheds are. It was simply a 
hut made of rough logs and limbs of trees. It had no 
door and no windows. One side of it was left entirely 
open ; and if a roving Indian or a bear wanted to walk in 
to dinner, there was nothing whatever to stop him. In 
winter "Abe's" mother used to hang up some buffalo 
skins before this wide entrance, to keep out the cold, 
but in summer the skins were taken down, so that living 
in such a cabin was the next thing to living out-of-doors. 

1 Kentucky : Abraham Lincoln was born on the banks of the Big South Fork 
(or branch) of Nolin Creek in Hardin (now La Rue) County, Kentucky. 

2 Indiana: the Lincoln family moved to a farm on Little Pigeon Creek, near 
Gentrvville, in what is now Spencer County, Indiana. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



199 



245. The new log cabin with four sides to it ; how the fur- 
niture was made; "Abe's" bed in the loft. — The Lincoln 
family stayed in that shed for about a year ; then they 
moved into a new log cabin which had four sides to it. 
They seem to have made a new set of furniture for the 
new house. ''Abe's" father got a large log, split it in 
two, smoothed off the flat side, bored holes in the under 
side and drove in four stout sticks for legs : that made the 
table. They had no chairs, 
— it would have been too 
much trouble to make the 
backs, — but they had 
three-legged stools, which 
Thomas Lincoln made 
with an axe, just as he did 
the table ; perhaps *' Abe " 
helped him drive in the legs. 

In one corner of the loft 
of this cabin the boy had 
a big bag of dry leaves for 
his bed. Whenever he felt 
like having a new bed, all 
that he had to do was to 
go out in the woods and 
gather more leaves. 

He worked about the place during the day, helping his 
father and mother. For his supper he had a piece of corn- 
bread. After he had eaten it, he climbed up to his loft in 
the dark, by a kind of ladder of wooden pins driven into 
the logs. Five minutes after that he was fast asleep on 
his bed of sweet-smelling leaves, and was dreaming of hunt- 
ing coons, or of building big bonfires out of brush. ^ 

1 Brush : bushes and limbs of trees. 




Home-made Furniture. 



200 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



246. Death of " Abe's " mother ; the lonely grave in the 
woods ; what Abraham Lincoln said of his mother after he had 
grown to be a man ; what '' Abe's " new mother said of him. — 

" Abe's " mother was 
not strong, and before 
they had been in their 
new log cabin a year she 
fell sick and died. She 
was buried on the farm. 
" Abe " used to go out 
and sit by her lonely 
grave in the forest and 
cry. It was the first 
great sorrow that had 
ever touched the boy's 
heart. After he had 
grown to be a man, he 
said with eyes full of 
tears to a friend with 
whom he was talking : " God bless my mother ; all that 
I am or ever hope to be I owe to her." 

At the end of a year Thomas Lincoln married again. 
The new wife that he brought home was a kind-hearted 
and excellent woman. She did all she could to make the 
poor, ragged, barefooted boy happy. After he had grown 
up and become famous, she said : " Abe never gave me 
a cross word or look, and never refused to do anything I 
asked him : Abe was the best boy I ever saw." 

247. The school in the woods ; the new teacher ; reading by 
the open fire ; how " Abe " used the fire-shovel. — There was 
a log schoolhouse in the woods quite a distance off, and 
there '' Abe " went for a short time. At the school he 
learned to read and write a little, but after a while he 




Abe" learning to use his Axe. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



20 1 



found a new teacher, that was — himself. When the rest 
of the family had gone to bed, he would sit up and read 
his favorite books by the light of the great blazing logs 
heaped up on the open fire. He had not more than half a 
dozen books in all. They were "Robinson Crusoe," "Pil- 
grim's Progress," yEsop's^ Fables, the Bible, a Life of 
Washington, and a small History of the United States. 
The boy read these 



books over and over 
till he knew a great 
deal of them by heart 
and could repeat 
whole pages from 
them. 

Part of his even- 
ings he spent in writ- 
ing and ciphering. 
Thomas Lincoln was 
so poor that he could 
seldom afford to buy 
paper and pens for his 
son, so the boy had to 
get on without them. 
He used to take the 
back of the broad 
wooden fire-shovel to write on and a piece of charcoal for 

1 .-Esop (E'sop) : the name of a noted writer of fables. Here is one of ^sop's 
fables : An old frog thought that he could blow himself up to be as big as an ox. 
So he drew in his breath and puffed himself out prodigiously. " Am I big enough 
now ? " he asked his son. " No," said his son ; " you don't begin to be as big as an 
ox yet." Then he tried again, and swelled himself out still more. " How's that ? " 
he asked. " Oh, it's no use trying," said his son, " you can't do it." " But I will," said 
the old frog. With that he drew in his breath with all his might and puffed himself 
up to such an enormous size that he suddenly burst. 

Moral : Don't try to be bigger than you can. 




202 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

a pencil. When he had covered the shovel with words or 
with sums in arithmetic, he would shave it off clean and 
begin over again. If " Abe's " father complained that the 
shovel was getting thin, the boy would go out into the 
woods, cut down a tree, and make a new one ; for as 
long as the woods lasted, fire-shovels and furniture were 
cheap. 

248. What Lincoln could do at seventeen ; what he was at 
nineteen ; his strength. — By the time the lad was seven- 
teen he could write a good hand, do hard examples in long 
division, and spell better than any one else in the county. 
Once in a while he wrote a little piece of his own about 
something which interested him ; when the neighbors 
heard it read, they would say, ** The world can't beat it." 

At nineteen Abraham Lincoln had reached his full 
height. He stood nearly six feet four inches, barefooted. 
He was a kind of good-natured giant. No one in the 
neighborhood could strike an axe as deep into a tree as he 
^ could, and few, if any, 

were equal to him in 
strength. It takes a pow- 
erful man to put a barrel 
of flour into a wagon 
without help, and there is 
not one in a hundred who 

Lincoln on the Flat-Boat going down the Can lift 3. barrel of cidcr 
Mississippi River. rr . i i ^ a. -^ • 

Oil the ground ; but it is 
said that young Lincoln could stoop down, lift a barrel 
on to his knees, and drink from the bung-hole. 

249. Young Lincoln makes a voyage to New Orleans ; how 
he handled the robbers. — At this time a neighbor hired 
Abraham to go with his son to New Orleans. The two 
young men were to take a flat-boat loaded with corn and 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 203 

other produce down the Ohio and the Mississippi. It was 
a voyage of about eighteen hundred miles, and it would 
take between three and four weeks. 

Young Lincoln was greatly pleased with the thought of 
making such a trip. He had never been away any distance 
from home, and, as he told his father, he felt that he 
wanted to see something more of the world. His father 
made no objection, but, as he bade his son good by, he 
said. Take care that in trying to see the world you don't 
see the bottom of the Mississippi. 

The two young men managed to get the boat through 
safely. But one 
night a gang of 
negroes came on 
board, intending to 
rob them of part of 
their cargo. Lin- 
coln soon showed 
the robbers he 
could handle a club 
as vigorously as he ^ ^ 

could an axe, and ^^^^^ ^^ -- -^ ■ — ^/ 

the rascals, bruised /^^"^ ^'^''""5"'' ~/^^ 




and bleeding, were ^ 

glad to get off with the log Cabin in Illinois which Lincoln helped 

their lives, "^^ ^^^^'^ ^""■°- 

250. The Lincolns move to Illinois; what Abraham did; 
hunting frolics ; how Abraham chopped ; how he bought his 
clothes. — Not long after young Lincoln's return, his father 
moved to Illinois.^ It was a two weeks' journey through 



1 Illinois : he moved to a farm on the North Fork (or branch) of the Sangamon 
River, Macon County, IlUnois. Springfield, the capital of the state, is in the next 
county west. 



204 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



the woods with ox-teams. Abraham helped his father 
build a comfortable log cabin ; then he and a man named 
John Hanks split walnut rails, and fenced in fifteen acres 
of land for a cornfield. 

That part of the country had but few settlers, and it 
was still full of wild beasts. When the men got tired 
of work and wanted a frolic, they had a grand wolf-hunt. 
First, a tall pole was set up in a clearing ^ ; next, the 
hunters in the woods formed a great circle of perhaps 
ten miles in extent. Then they began to move nearer 
and nearer together, beating the bushes and yelling with 

all their might. The frightened 
wolves, deer, and other wild crea- 
tures inside of the circle of hun- 
ters were driven to the pole in 
the clearing; there they were 
shot down in heaps. 

Young Lincoln was not much 
of a hunter, but he always tried 
to do his part. Yet, after all, 
he liked the axe better than 
he did the rifle. He would 
start off before light in the 
morning and walk to his work 
in the woods, five or six miles 
away. There he would chop 
steadily all day. The neighbors 
knew, when they hired him, 
that he wouldn't sit down on the first log he came to 
and fall asleep. Once when he needed a new pair of 
trousers, he made a bargain for them with a Mrs. Nancy 
Miller. She agreed to make him a certain number of 




Lincoln splitting Logs for Rails. 



Clearing : an open space made in a forest. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 205 

yards of tow cloth, ^ and dye it brown with walnut bark. 
For every yard she made, Lincoln bound himself to split 
four hundred good fence-rails for her. In this way he 
made his axe pay for all his clothes. 

251. Lincoln hires out to tend store ; the g^mg of ruffians 
in New Salem; Jack Armstrong and "Tall Abe." — The year 
after young Lincoln came of age he hired out to tend a 
grocery and variety store in New Salem, Illinois. ^ There 
was a gang of young ruffians in that neighborhood who 
made it a point to pick a fight with every stranger. Some- 
times they mauled him black and blue ; sometimes they 
amused themselves with nailing him up in a hogshead 
and rolling him down a hill. The leader of this gang 
was a fellow named Jack Armstrong. He made up his 
mind that he would try his hand on ''Tall Abe," as Lin- 
coln was called. He attacked Lincoln, and he was so 
astonished at what happened to him that he never wanted 
to try it again. From that time Abraham Lincoln had no 
better friends than young Armstrong and the Armstrong 
family. Later on we shall see what he was able to do for 
them. 

252. Lincoln's faithfulness in little things ; the six cents ; 
"Honest Abe." — In his work in the store Lincoln soon won 
everybody's respect and confidence. He was faithful in 
little things, and in that way he made himself able to deal 
with great ones. 

Once a woman made a mistake in paying for something 
she had bought, and gave the young man six cents too 
much. He did not notice it at the time, but after his 
customer had gone he saw that she had overpaid him. 



1 Tow cloth: a kind of coarse, cheap, but very strong cloth, made of flax or hemp. 

2 New Salem is on the Sangamon River, in Menard County, about twenty miles 
northwest of Springfield, the capital of Illinois. 



206 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

That night, after the store was closed, Lincoln walked to 
the woman's house, some five or six miles out of the vil- 
lage, and paid her back the six cents. It was such things 
as this that first made the people give him the name of 
''Honest Abe." 

253. The Black Hawk War; the Indian's handful of dry 
leaves; what Lincoln did in the war. — The next year Lin- 
coln went to fight the Indians in what was called the 
Black Hawk War. The people in that part of the country 
had been expecting the war ; for, some time before, an In- 
dian had' walked up to a settler's cabin and said, "Too 
much white man." He then threw a handful of dry 
leaves into the air, to show how he and his warriors 
were coming to scatter the white men. He never came, 
but a noted chief named Black Hawk, who had been a 
friend of Tecumseh's,^ made an attempt to drive out the 
settlers, and get back the lands which certain Indians 
had sold them. 

Lincoln said that the only battles he fought in this 
war were with the mosquitoes. He never killed a single 

Indian, but he saved the life of 
one old savage. He seems to 
have felt just as well satisfied 
with himself for doing that as 
though he had shot him through 
the head. 

254. Lincoln becomes postmaster 
and surveyor ; how he studied law ; 
what the people thought of him 
Lincoln reading Law. as a lawycr. — After Lincolu re- 

turned from the war he was made 
postmaster of New Salem. He also found time to do 

1 Tecumseh : see page 158. 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 20/ 

some surveying and to begin the study of law. On hot 
summer mornings he might be seen lying on his back, 
on the grass, under a big tree, reading a law-book ; as 
the shade moved round, Lincoln would move with it, so 
that by sundown he had travelled nearly round the tree. 

When he began to practise law, everybody who knew 
him had confidence in him. Other men might be ad- 
mired because they were smart, but Lincoln was respected 
because he was honest. When he said a thing, people 
knew that it was because he believed it, and they knew, 
too, that he could not be hired to say what he did not 
believe. That gave him immense influence. 

255. The Armstrong murder trial ; how Lincoln saved young 
Armstrong from being hanged. ^ But Lincoln was as keen 
as he was truthful and honest. A man was killed in a 
fight near where Lincoln had lived, and one of Jack Arm- 
strong's ^ brothers was arrested for the murder. Every- 
body thought that he was guilty, and felt sure that he 
would be hanged. Lincoln made some inquiry about the 
case, and made up his mind that the prisoner did not kill 
the man. • 

Mrs. Armstrong was too poor to hire a lawyer to defend 
her son, but Lincoln wrote to her that he would gladly 
do it for nothing. 

When the day of the trial came, the chief witness was 
sure that he saw young Armstrong strike the man dead. 
Lincoln questioned him closely. He asked him when it 
was that he saw the murder committed. The witness said 
that it was in the evening, at a certain hour, and that he 
saw it all clearly because there was a bright moon. Are 
you sure ? asked Lincoln. Yes, replied the witness. Do 
you swear to it ? I do, answered the witness. Then Lin- 

1 See Jack Armstrong, on page 205. 



208 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



coin took an almanac out of his pocket, turned to the day 
of the month on which the murder had been committed, 
and said to the court : The almanac shows that there was 
no moon shining at the time at which the witness says he 
saw the murder.^ The jury was convinced that the witness 
had not spoken the truth ; they declared the prisoner " Not 
guilty," and he was at once set free. 

Lincoln was a man who always paid his debts. Mrs. 
Armstrong had been very kind to him when he was poor 
and friendless. Now he had paid that debt. 

256. Lincoln and the pig. — Some men have hearts big 
enough to be kind to their fellow-men when they are in 
trouble, but not to a dumb animal. Lincoln's heart was 
big enough for both. 

One morning just after he had bought a new suit of 
clothes he started to drive to the court-house, a number of 

miles distant. On the way he 
saw a pig that was making des- 
perate efforts to climb out of 
a deep mud-hole. The creature 
would get part way up the 
slippery bank, and then slide 
back again over his head in 
mire and water. Lincoln said 
to himself : I suppose that I 
ought to get out and help that 
pig ; for if he's left there, he'll smother in the mud. 
Then he gave a look at his glossy new clothes. He felt 
that he really couldn't afford to spoil them for the sake of 
any pig, so he whipped up his horse and drove on. But 




Lincoln and the Pig. 



1 The almanac usually gives the time when the moon rises ; and so by looking 
at any particular day of the month, one can tell whether there was a moon on that 
evening. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 2O9 

the pig was in his mind, and he could think of nothing 
else. After he had gone about two miles, he said to him- 
self, I've no right to leave that poor creature there to die 
in the mud, and what is more, I won't leave him. Turning 
his horse, he drove back to the spot. He got out and carried 
half a dozen fence-rails to the edge of the hole, and placed 
them so that he could get to it without falling in himself. 
Then, kneeling down, he bent over, seized the pig firmly 
by the fore legs and drew him up on to the solid ground, 
where he was safe. The pig grunted out his best thanks, 
and Lincoln, plastered with mud, but with a light heart, 
drove on to the court-house. 

257. Lincoln is elected to the state legislature ; he goes to 
Springfield to live ; he is elected to Congress. — Many people 
in Illinois thought that they would like to see such a man 
in the state legislature ^ helping to make their laws. 
They elected him ; and as he was too poor at that time 
to pay so much horse-hire, he walked from New Salem, a 
distance of over a hundred miles, to Vandalia,^ which was 
then the capital of the state. 

Lincoln was elected to the legislature many times ; later, 
he moved to Springfield, Illinois, and made that place his 
home for the rest of his life. 

The next time the people elected him to office, they 
sent him to Congress to help make laws, not for his state 
only, but for the whole country. He had got a long way 
up since the time when he worked with John Hanks ^ 
fencing the cornfield round his father's cabin ; but he was 
going higher still, — he was going to the top. 



1 Legislature: persons chosen by the people of a state or country to make its 
laws. 

2 Vandalia ( Van-da' li-a). 3 John Hanks : see page 204. 



2IO THE BEGINNERS AMERICAN HISTORY. 

258. The meeting for choosing a candidate ^ for President of 
the United States ; the two fence-rails ; the Chicago meeting ; 
Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States. — In 

the spring of i860 a great convention, or meeting, was 
held in one of the towns of Illinois. Lincoln was present 
at that convention. The object of the people who had 
gathered there was to choose a candidate that they would 
like to see elected President of the United States. A 
number of speeches had been made, when a member of the 
convention rose and said that a person asked the privilege 
of making the meeting a present. It was voted to receive 
it. Then John Hanks and one of his neighbors brought 
in two old fence-rails and a banner with these words 
painted on it : — 





ABRAHAM 


LINCOLN 




THE RAIL 


CANDIDATE 
IN 


FOR 
I860. 


THE 


PRESIDENCY 


TWO 


RAILS FROM A 


LOT ( 


DF 3000 




MADE 


IN 1830 




BY JOHN HANKS 


AND 


ABE 


LINCOLN. 



The rails were received with cheer after cheer, and Lin- 
coln was chosen candidate. About a week after that a 
much greater meeting was held in Chicago, and he was 
chosen there in the same way. The next November 
Abraham Lincoln, ''the Illinois rail-splitter," was elected 
President of the United States. He had reached the top. 
There he was to die. 

4 Candidate (can'di-date) : a person who seeks some ofifice, such as that of 
governor or president, or a person who is recommended by a party for such an 
office. The people in favor of the candidate vote for him ; and if he gets a suffi- 
cient number of votes, he is elected. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 211 

259. The great war between the North and the South ; why 
a large part of the people of the South wished to leave the 
Union. — In less than six weeks after Lincoln actually 
became President, in the spring of 1861, a terrible war 
broke out between the North and the South. The people 
of South Carolina fired the first gun in that war. They, 
together with a great part of the people of ten other 
southern states, resolved to leave the Union. ^ They set 
up an independent government called the Confederate 
States of America, and made Jefferson Davis its president. 

The main reason why so many of the people of the 
South wished to withdraw from the United States was 
that little by little the North and the South had become 
like two different countries. 

At the time of the Revolution, when we broke away 
from the rule of England, every one of the states held 
negro slaves ; but in the course of eighty years a great 
change had taken place. The negroes at the North had 
become free, but those of the South still remained slaves. 
Now this difference in the way of doing work made it 
impossible for the North and the South to agree about 
many things. 

They had come to be like two boys in a boat who want 
to go in opposite directions. One pulls one way with his 
oars, the other pulls another way, and so the boat does not 
get ahead. 

At the South most of the people thought that slavery 
was right, and that it helped the whole country ; at the 

1 Union : several years after the close of the Revolutionary War, by which we 
gained our independence of Great Britain, the people of the thirteen states formed 
a new government. That new government bound all the states together more 
strongly than before, thus making, as was then said, " a more perfect uniofi." 

In 1861 eleven of the southern states endeavored to withdraw from the Union; 
this attempt brought on the war. 



212 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



North the greater part of the people were convinced that 
it was wrong, and that it did harm to the whole country. 




Statue of Lincoln writing the Emancipation Proclamation which gave the 
Slaves their Freedom, in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. 

But this was not all. The people who held slaves at 
the South wanted to add to the number. They hoped to 
get more of the new country west of the Mississippi River 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



213 



for slave states, so that there might always be at least as 
many slave states in the Union as there were free states. 



"^ /^i% 








ji- 



-i-l. 



Ill 






lilt 











kt-^ =- 



Monument to General Grant in Lincoln Park, Chicago. 

But Abraham Lincoln like most of the people at the North 
believed that slavery did no good to any one. He and his 
party were fully determined that no slaves whatever should 



214 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



be taken into the territories west of the Mississippi River, 
and that every new state which should be added should be 
entirely free. 

For this reason it happened that when Lincoln became 
President most of the slave states resolved to leave the 
Union, and, if necessary, to make war rather than be com- 
pelled to stay in it. 

260. The North and the 
South in the war ; President 
Lincoln frees the slaves ; Gen- 
eral Grant and General Lee ; 
peace is made. — The North 
had the most men and the 
most money to fight with, 
but the people of the South 
had the advantage of being 
able to stay at home and 
fight on their own ground. 
The war lasted four years 
(1861-1865). Many terri- 
ble battles were fought ; 
thousands of brave men 
were killed on both 
sides. During the 
war President Lin- 
coln gave the slaves 
their freedom in all 
the states which were 
fighting against the 
Union, and those in 
the other slave states 
;, got their freedom 

Monument to General Lee, Richmond, Virginia. later. /liter 3. time 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



215 



General Grant obtained the command of all the armies 
of the North, and General Lee became the chief defender 
of the South. 

The last battles were fought around Richmond, Virginia, 
between these two great generals. When the Southern 
soldiers saw that it was useless to attempt to fight longer, 
they laid down their arms, and peace was made — a peace 
honorable to both sides. 




Monument over the Grave of President Lincoln, at Springfield, Illinois. 



261. The success of the North preserves the Union and 
makes all slaves free ; the North and the South shake hands ; 
murder of President Lincoln. — The success of the North in 
the war preserved the Union, and as all negro laborers were 
now free, there was no longer any dispute about slavery. 
The North and the South could shake hands and be friends, 
for both were now ready to pull in the same direction. 

The saddest thing at the close of the war was the 
murder of President Lincoln by a madman named Booth. 



2l6 THE beginner's AMERICAN HISTORY. 

Not only the people of the North but many of those at the 
South shed tears at his death, because they felt that they 
had an equal place in his great heart. He loved both, as 
a true American must ever love his whole country. 

262. Summary. — Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, became 
President of the United States in 1861. He was elected 
by a party in the North that was determined that slaves 
should not be taken into free states or territories, and that 
no more slave states should be made. On this account 
most of the slave-holding states of the South resolved to 
withdraw from the Union. A great war followed, and 
President Lincoln gave the slaves their freedom. The 
North succeeded in the war, and the Union was made 
stronger than ever, because the North and the South 
could no longer have any dispute over slavery. Both 
sides now shook hands and became friends. 

Who was the tall man in Congress from Illinois ? What did the people of his 
state like to call him ? When was Abraham Lincoln born ? Where was he born ? 
To what state did his father move ? Tell about " Abe's " new home. Tell about 
the new cabin and its furniture. Tell about "Abe's " bed. What is said about the 
boy's mother ? What did " Abe " do ? What did he say after he became a man ? 
What did Thomas Lincoln's new wife say about " Abe " ? Tell about " Abe's " 
going to school; about his new teacher; about his books. What did he use to 
write on ? What is said of Abraham Lincoln at seventeen ? What about him 
when he was nineteen ? Tell about his voyage to New Orleans. 

Tell about his moving to Illinois. What did Abraham Lincoln and John 
Hanks do ? Tell about the hunting frolics. Tell how Lincoln chopped in the 
woods. What kind of a bargain did he make for a new pair of trousers ? What 
did Abraham Lincoln hire out to do in New Salem ? Tell about the gang of ruf- 
fians. What is said of Jack Armstrong ? Why did Lincoln get the name of 
" Honest Abe " ? Tell about the Black Hawk War. What did Lincoln do in that 
war. 

After he returned from the Black Hawk War, what did Lincoln do ? Tell how 
he used to read law. What did people think of him after he began to practise law ? 
Tell about the Armstrong murder trial. Tell about Lincoln and the pig. To what 
did the people of Illinois elect Lincoln ? Did they ever elect him to the state leg- 
islature again ? Then where did they send him ? Was he going any higher ? 

Tell about the great meeting in one of the towns of Illinois in i860. Can any 
one in the class repeat what was on the banner ? What happened at Chicago ? 
What the next November ? What happened in the spring of 1861 ? Who fired 
the first gun in the war ? What was done then ? 

_ Tell why so many people in the South wished to leave the Union ? What is 
said about negro slaves at the time of the Revolution ? What happened in the 
course of eighty years ? What had the North and the South come to be like ? 
How did most of the people at the South feel about slavery ? How did most of 



SINCE THE WAR. 



217 



the people at the North feel about it ? What did the people who held slaves at 
the South want to do ? What did most of the people at the North think about 
this ? What is said about Abraham Lincoln and his party ? How did most 
of the people of the slave states feel when Lincoln became President ? 

What is said about the North and the South in the war ? How long did 
the war last ? What is said about it ? What did President Lincoln do for the 
slaves ? After a time what general got the command of all the armies of the 
North ? Who became the chief defender of the South ? Where were the last 
battles fought ? What did the South do at last ? What happened then ? What 
did the success of the North do ? What is said about slavery ? What could the 
North and the South do ? What was the saddest thing which happened at the 
close of the war ? How did the North and the South feel about President Lincoln ? 



a^^c 



SINCE THE WAR. 

263. How the North and the South have g^rown since the 
war ; the great West. — Since the war the united North and 




The Meeting of the Engines from the East and the West after the last Spike 
WAS Driven ^ on the Completion of the First Railroad to the Pacific in 



1 The last spikes (one of gold from California, one of silver from Nevada, and 
one made of gold, silver, and iron from Arizona) were driven just as the clock 
struck twelve (noon) on May loth, 1869, at Promontory Point, near Salt Lake, Utah. 
Every blow of the hammer was telegraphed throughout the United States. 



21 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



South have grown and prospered ^ as never before. At 
the South many new and flourishing towns and cities have 

sprung up. Mines of coal and 
iron have been opened, hundreds 
of cotton-mills and factories have 
been built, and long lines of rail- 
roads have been constructed. 

At the West changes equally 
great have taken place. Cities 
have risen up in the wilderness, 
mines of silver and gold have 
been opened, and immense farms 
and cattle ranches ^ produce food 
enough to feed all America. 
Three great lines of railroads 
have been built which connect 
with railroads at the East, and stretch across the continent 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Into that vast country 




Piling Silver Bricks. 
(From the silver mines in Colorado.) 




How THEY USED TO SHOOT BUFFALO IN THE FaR WeST. 



1 Prospered : to prosper is to succeed, to get on in life, to grow rich. 
^ Ranches : farms at the West for raising horses and cattle, or sheep. 



SINCE THE WAR, 



219 



beyond the Mississippi hundreds of thousands of indus- 
trious people are moving from all parts of the earth, and 
are buildinsf homes for themselves and for their children. 




Indians attacking a Stage 
Coach in the F\r Wfst 

tOKTY Yh-ARS At O BEhORE 

THE First Pacific Rail 

ROAD was BLUT 



264. Celebration of the discovery of America by Columbus ; 
the unfinished pyramid ; making history. — Four hundred 
years have gone by since the first civilized man crossed 




First Great Seal of the United 

States. 




Second Great Seal of the United 
States. 



the ocean and found this new world which we call Amer- 
ica. We are now about to celebrate that discoverv made 



220 THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 

by Columbus, not only in the schools throughout the 
country, but by a great fair — called the ''World's Colum- 
bian Exposition — to be held at Chicago; and we si .11 
invite all who will to come from all parts of the glof 
join us in the celebration. 

On one of the two great seals ^ of the Unitea States a 
pyramid is represented partly finished. That pyramid 
stands for our country. It shows how much has been 
done and how much still remains to be done. The men 
whose lives we have read in this little book were all 
builders. Little by little they added stone to stone, and 
so the good work grew. Now they have gone, and it is 
for us to do our part and make sure that the pyramid, 
as it rises, shall continue to stand square, and strong, a a 
true. 

What is said about the North and the South since the war ? Tell about 
the growth of the South. What is said about the West ? What about railroads ? 
What about people going west ? 

How long is it since Columbus discovered America ? What is said about the 
celebration of that discovery ? What is said about one of the great seals of the 
United States ? What does the unfinished pyramid stand for ? What does it show 
us ? What is said of the men whose lives we have read in this book ? Ls anything 
left for us to do ? 

1 Seals: the first great seal, having the eagle and the Latin motto " E Piuriius 
UnutJt," meaning ''Many in One" — or one nation made up of many states,— 
adopted June 20, 1782. The spread eagle signifies strength; the thirteen 'bVars 
above his head, and the thirteen stripes on the shield on his breast, represent the 
thirteen original states; the olive branch, held in the eagle's right talon, shows that 
America seeks peace, while the bundle of arrows in his left talon shows that we are 
prepared for war. This seal is used in stamping agreements or treaties made by the 
United States with other nations, and also for other important papers. 

The second great seal, adopted at the same time, is not now in use. It was 
intended for stamping the wax on a ribbon attached to a treaty or other impor'ir- 
paper, thus making a hanging seal. The Latin motto " Annuit Cceptis," above ^^e 
all-seeing eye looking down with favor on the unfinished pyramid, means " God 
has favored the Work." The date MDCCLXXVI, or 1776, marks the Declaration 
of Independence. The Latin motto at the bottom, " A^ovus Ordo Seclorum," means 
" A New Order of Ages" — ox a new order of things, such as we have in this New 
World of America. 



HORT LIST OF BOOKS OF REFERENCE 

{For the Use of Teachers.) 



This brief list is arranged alphabetically. It consists, with a few exceptions, of small, 
one-volume biographies; all of which are believed to be of acknowledged merit. 

A much fuller reference list will be found in the appendix to the author's larger work, 
entitled The Leadings Facts of American History. 



Balboa : Irving's Companions of Columbus, and Winsor's America, Vol. II. 
Baltimore, Lord: William H. Browne's Lords Baltimore; ^ G. W. Burnap's 
Baltimore.! 

.,;00ne, Daniel: C. B, Hartley's Boone (including Boone's autobiography); 
J. M. Peck's Boone; ^ and see the excellent sketch of Boone's life in Theo- 
dore Roosevelt's The Winning of the West, Vol. I. 

Cabot (John and Sebastian) : J. F. NichoUs's Cabot; C. Hay ward's Cabot.i 

Clark, George Rogers : see Theodore Roosevelt's The Winning of the West, 
Vol. II. 

Columbus: Irving's Columbus, abridged edition; Charles K. Adams's Co- 
lumbus; 3 Edward Everett Hale's Columbus. 

De Leon: Irving's Companions of Columbus, and Winsor's America, Vol, II. 

De Soto : see Winsor's America, Vol. II. 

Franklin, Benjamin: D. H. Montgomery's Franklin (autobiography and 
continuation of Hfe) ; ^ John T. Morse's Franklin.'^ 

rulton, Robert: J. Renwick's Fulton; i R. H. Thurston's Fulton; s Thos. 
W. Knox's Fulton.4 

Gray, Robert : see H. H. Bancroft's Pacific States, Vol. XXII. 

Harrison, William Henry: H. Montgomery's Harrison; S. J. Burr's Har- 
rison. 

Houston, Sam: Henry Bruce's Houston; 3 C. E. Lester's Houston. 

Hudson, Henry: H. R. Cleveland's Hudson. i 

^ackson, Andrew: James Barton's Jackson; W. G. Sumner's Jackson.'^ 

Jefferson, Thomas: James Schouler's Jefferson; ^ John T, Morse, Jr.'s Jef- 
ferson.'^ 

Lincoln, Abraham: Carl Schurz's Lincoln; Isaac N, Arnold's Lincoln; 
Noah Brooks's Lincoln; * J. G. Holland's Lincoln; Y. B. Carpenter's Six 
Months at the White House with Lincoln. 

Morse, Samuel F. B. : S. I. Prime's Morse; Denslow and Parke's Morse 
(Cassell). 

221 



222 A SHORT LIST OF BOOKS. 

Oglethorpe, James Edward: Bruce's Oglethorpe; ^ w. B. O. Peabody's 

Oglethorpe. 1 
Penn, William: G. E. Ellis's Penn; i W. H. Dixon's Penn; J. Stoughton's 

Penn. 

Philip, King: H. M. Dexter's edition of Church's King Philip's War (2 
vols.); Richard Markham's King Philip's War. 

Note. — The story of Colonel Goffe's appearance at Hadley during the Indian attack on 
that town rests on tradition. Some authorities reject it; but Bryant and Gay say (History 
of the United States, II., 410) : " There is no reason for doubting its essential truth." 

Putnam, Rufus : see H. B. Carrington's Battles of the Revolution, Rufus 

King's History of Ohio, and Bancroft's United States. 
Raleigh, Walter: L. Creighton's Raleigh; E. Gosse's Raleigh; W. M. 

Towle's Raleigh.^ 
Robertson, James : see Theodore Roosevelt's The Winning of the West, 

Vol. I. 

Sevier John : see Theodore Roosevelt's The Winning of the West, Vol. I. 
Smith, John: G. S. Hillard's Captain John Smith; 1 C. D. Warner's Smith.^ 

Note. — The truth of the story of Pocahontas has been denied by Mr. Charles Deane 
and some other recent writers; but it appears never to have been questioned until Mr. Deane 
attacked it in 1866 in his notes to his reprint of Captain John Smith's True Relation or 
Neivesfroin I'lrginia. Professor Edward Arber discusses the question in his Introduction 
(pp. cxv.-cxviii.) to his excellent edition of Smith's writings. He says, " To deny the truth 
of this Pocahontas incident is to create more difficulties than are involved in its accept- 
ance." See, too, his sketch of the life of Captain Smith in the Encyclopeedia Britannica. 

Standish, Myles : see J. A. Goodwin's Pilgrim Republic, and Alexander 

Young's Chronicles of the Pilgrims. 
Sutter, John A. : see H. H. Bancroft's Pacific States, Vol. XVIII. 
Washington, George : John Fiske's Irving's Washington and his Country ; ^ 

E. E. Hale's Washington; * Horace E. Scudder's Washington.^ 
Whitney, Eli : Denison Olmsted's Whitney. 

Williams, Roger: W. R. Gammell's Williams; 1 H. M. Dexter's Williams. 
Winthrop, John : Joseph H. Twichell's Winthrop.2 

^ In Sparks's Library of American Biography : Little, Brown & Co., Boston. 
2 In Classics for Children Scries : Ginn & Co., Boston. 
^ In Makers of America Series : Dodd, Mead & Co., New York. 

* In Boys and Girls' Library of Americaji Biography : G. P. Putnam's Sons, New 
York. 

5 In the Riverside Library for Young People : Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 

^ In Lives of American Worthies : Henry Holt & Co., New York. 

^ In The American Statesmen Series : Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston. 

8 In T/te Heroes of History Series : Lee & Shepard, Boston. 



INDEX. 



{IVi^/i pronunciation of difficult words.) 
The numbers refer to pages. 



Admiral (Ad'mi-ral) (note), 5. 
Alamance (Al'a-mance), battle of, 122. 
Alamo (Al'a-mo), battle of, 183. 
Alaska purchased, 195. 
America, Northmen discover (note), 14. 

Columbus discovers, 8. 

Cabot's voyage to, 13. 

name of, given, 16. 

Spaniards settle in, 19. 

English settle in, 21, 23. 

independence of, declared, 106. 

See United States. 
Americans, name of, 102. 
Amerigo (A-ma-ree'go), see Vespucci, 16. 
Apprentice (note), 81. 
Armstrong, Jack, 205, 207. 

murder trial, 207. 
Arnold, Benedict, no. 
Atlantic called the " Sea of Darkness," 5. 

crossed by the Northmen (note), 14. 

crossed by Columbus, 5. 
Augustine, St. (Aw'gus-teen'), founded, 19. 

Bacon's war in Virginia, 30. 

Balboa (Bal-bo'ah) discovers the Pacific, 18. 

Baltimore founded, 54. 

in the Revolution, 54. 
Baltimore, Lord, in Newfoundland, 50. 

Maryland granted to, 51. 

power of, 52. 

son of, settles Maryland, 52. 

grants religious liberty inMaryland,53,54. 

is persecuted, 54. 

summary of, 54. 
Battle, playing at, 166. 
Battle of Alamance (Al'a-mance), 122. 

Alamo (Al'a-mo), 183. 

Bunker Hill, 103. 

Camden, 168. 



Battle of Concord, 102. 

Cowpens, 109, 167. 

Fort Moultrie, 109. 

Lexington, 102. 

Long Island, 106. 

New Orleans, 171. 

Princeton, 108. 

Saratoga, 108. 

Tippecanoe, 159. 

Trenton, 107. 

Vincennes (Vin-senz'), 131. 

Yorktown, no. 
Battles of the Civil War, 214, 215. 

with Indians, see Indians and War. 
Bees, the, and the " Red-Coats," 166. 
Berkeley, governor of Virginia, 30. 
Black Hawk War, 206. 
" Blazing" trees, 77. 
Boone, Daniel, birth and boyhood of, 116, 

how he could handle a gun, 117. 

his bear tree, 117. 

goes to Kentucky, 117. 

makes the " Wilderness Road," 118. 

builds a fort, 119. 

his daughter stolen by Indians, 119. 

he is captured and adopted by Indians, 120. 

his escape, 120. 

how he used tobacco dust, 121. 

his old age, 121. 

goes to Missouri, 121. 

Kentucky helps him, 122. 

grave of, 122. 

summary of, 122. 
Boston founded, 48. 

name of, 49. 

" Tea Party," loi. 

port of, closed, loi. 

British driven from, 105, 132. 
Bowie (Bow'e), Colonel, 184. 

223 



2 24 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



Braddock's defeat, 98. 

Bradford, William, caught in trap, 42. 

Bradford, Governor, 42. 

and Canonicus, 45. 
Brewster, Elder, 43. 
British, the name, 102. 
Brookfield burnt by Indians, 63. 
" Brother Jonathan," 196, 

origin of name (note), 196. 
Brush (note), 199. 

Cabot (Cab'ot), John and Sebastian, 13. 

discover continent of America, 13. 

take possession of, for England, 14. 

return to Bristol, 15. 

what they carried back, 15. 

second voyage of, 15. 

how much of America they discovered, 16. 

summary of, 17. 
California, Captain Sutter in, 189. 

gold discovered in, 190. 

effects of discovery of gold, 194. 

acquisition of, 193. 

emigration to, 194. 
Camden, battle of, 168. 
Canal, Erie, opened, 175. 
Candidate (note), 210. 

Canonchet (Ka-non'chet) braves death, 66. 
Canonicus (Ka-non'i-kus) sends challenge to 
Bradford, 45. 

and Roger Williams, 58, 59. 
Cape Cod, arrival of Pilgrims at, 41. 

explored by Pilgrims, 42. 
Capitol, the, burned, 161. 

rebuilt, 161. 
Carolina, North, Governor Tryon in, 122. 

battle of Alamance in, 122. 

the Revolution in, 165. 

South, see Charleston. 
Carver chosen governor, 41. 

his kindness to the sick, 43. 

makes treaty with Massasoit, 44. 
Catholics cruelly treated in England, 50. 

colony of, in Newfoundland, 50. 

colony of, in Maryland, 51. 

give equal religious rights to Protes- 
tants, 52, 54. 

persecuted in Maryland, 54. 

first English Church of, in America, 53. 
Charles II. and Penn, 68, 70. 
Charleston helps Georgia, 77. 

in the Revolution, 109. 

secedes, 211. 

begins the Civil War, 211. 
Chicago, Columbian Exposition at, 220. 
Church, Captain Benjamin, 65. 



Church, the first English Protestant, in Amer- 
ica, 25. 

first English Catholic, in America, 53. 
Civil War, the, 211-216. 

causes of the, 211-214. 

battles of the, 214, 215. 

Grant and Lee in the, 215. 

Lincoln in the, 214, 215. 

result of the, 215. 
Clark, George Rogers, birth of (note), 127. 

expedition against Fort Kaskaskia, 127. 

march against, 127. 

takes the fort, 128. 

is helped by a Catholic priest, 128. 

gets Fort Vincennes, 129. 

loses the fort, 129. 

Vigo offers help to, 129. 

marches against Fort Vincennes, 129. 

in the " Drowned Lands," 129. 

wading to victory, 130. 

takes Fort Vincennes, 131. 

results of the victory, 131. 

grave of, 131. 

summary of, 131. 
Clearing (note), 204. 

Coloma (Ko-lo'ma), gold discovered at, 190. 
Colonel (kur'nel) (note), 64. 
Colonies, the thirteen (note), 75. 
Colony (note) , 49. 
Columbian Exposition, the, 220. 
Columbus, birth and boyhood of, i. 

becomes a sailor, 2. 

has a sea-fight, 2. 

goes to Lisbon, 2. 

his maps of the world, 3. 

plan for reaching Indies, 3. 

goes to Spain for help, 5. 

his reception at the convent, 4. 

leaves his son at the convent, 4. 

gets help for his voyage, 5. 

sails from Palos, 5. 

voyage of, 6, 7. 

discovers land, 8. 

names it, 8. 

discovers large islands, 9. 

returns to Spain, 10. 

his reception in Spain, 10. 

last voyages of, 11. 

his sorrowful old age, 11. 

sent back to Spain in chains, 11. 

his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella, 12. 

death and burial, 12. 

summary of, 12. 

celebration of his discovery of America, 
220. 
Compass, Smith's use of the, 26. 



INDEX. 



225 



Compass, Roger Williams', 57. 

Washington's use of, 98. 
Concord, battle of, 102. 
Congress, meeting of the first, 73, 102. 

makes Washington commander-in-chief, 
104. 

declares independence, 73, 106. 

meaning of word (note), 102, 180. 

votes money for first telegraph lines, 180. 
Convent of St. Mary at Palos, 4. 
Convent (note), 4. 

Cornwallis, Lord, in the Revolution, 106- 
112. 

his pursuit of Washington, 106. 

and Arnold, no. 

surrender of, 112. 
Cotton, how it grows, 139. 

seeds of, 139. 

price of, 141. 

effect of cotton-gin on, T41. 

export of, 142, 143. 

size of bales (note), 143. 
Cotton-gin, invention of, 140. 

effect of the, 141. 
Cowpens, battle of, 109, 167. 
Crockett, David, motto of, 184. 

Declaration of Independence made, 73, 106. 

written by Jefferson, 146. 

Franklin has part in, 90. 

sent throughout the country, 146. 
De Leon, pronunciation of name (note), 17. 

discovers Florida, 17. 
De Soto, pronunciation of name (note), 17. 

discovers the Mississippi, 18. 
Detroit, Fort, 126. 
Discovery, right of (note), 188. 
" Drowned Lands," the, 129. 

Earthquake, great, of 1811, 155. 
Ebenezer (Eb-e-ne'zer), settlement of, 77. 

name of, 78. 
Electricity, Franklin's experiments in, 87-89. 
Eliot, Rev. John, 62. 
Elizabeth, Queen, names Virginia, 20. 
Ellsworth, Miss Annie, 180. 
Elm, the treaty, at Philadelphia, 71. 

the Washington, at Cambridge, 104. 
Emigrants (note), 21. 
Experiments (note), 87. 
Explorer (note), 2. 

Fable of the Frog (note), 201. 
Fairfax estate, 94. 

Lord, and Washington, 94. 

his land, 95. 



I Fairfax hires Washington to survey, 95. 

death of, 113. 
Father Gibault (Zhe-bo'), 128, 

White, 53, 54. 
Ferdinand and Isabella, 5, 10. 
Flag, first American, 104. 

the British (note), in. 

torn down at New York, 113. 

U. S., origin of (note), in. 

carried round the world, 187. 

" Star Spangled Banner" (note), 141. 

of Texas, 184. 

Jasper saves the, 109. 
Flint and steel, 57. 
Florida, discovery of, 17. 

name of (note), 18. 

settlement of, 19. 

Indian war in, 172. 

purchase of, 19, 172. 
Fort, Boone's, 118. 

Detroit, 126. 

Indian, 65. 

Jamestown, 24. 

Kaskaskia, 126-128. 

Manhattan, 38. 

McHenry (note), 141. 

Moultrie, 109. 

Necessity, 98. 

Plymouth, 46. 

St. Augustine, 19. 

Sutter's, 189. 

Vincennes, 126-129. 
Fortifications on Dorchester Heights, 132. 

at New Orleans, 171. 
Forts, British, at the West, 126. 

French, at the West, 97. 
Founds (note), 48. 
Fountain, the magic, 17. 
Franklin, Benjamin, boyhood of, 81. 

works for his father, 82. 

is apprenticed to his brother, 82 

boards himself, 82. 

is badly treated, 82. 

runs away, 82. 

his walk across New Jersey, 83. 

lands in Philadelphia, 83. 

buys some rolls, 83. 

sees Miss Read, 83. 

goes to a Quaker meeting, 84. 

gets work in a printing-office, 84. 

goes to Boston on a visit, 84. 

learns to stoop, 84. 

returns to Philadelphia. 85. 

goes to London, 85. 

called the " Water American," 85 

returns to Philadelphia, 86. 



226 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY, 



Franklin, Benjamin, sets up a newspaper, 8i,86. 

his " sawdust pudding," 86. 

his almanac, 8i. 

his sayings, 8i. 

his plan of life, 87. 

what he did for Philadelphia, 80, 87. 

experiments with electricity, 87. 

his electrical picture, 88. 

his electrical kite, 88. 

his discoveries in electricity, 89. 

invents the lightning-rod, 89. 

receives title of Doctor, 89. 

services in the Revolution, 90. 

thinks we must fight with bows and ar- 
rows, 105. 

gets help for us from France, 90. 

his funeral, 90. 

counties named for him, 90. 

summary of, 91. 
Friends (or Quakers), religion of, 69. 

persecuted in England, 69. 

go to Pennsylvania, 69. 

friendly relations with the Indians, 72. 

See William Penn. 
Fulton, Robert, birth and boyhood of, 151. 

his paddle-wheel scow, 151. 

care of his mother, 152. 

goes to England and France, 152. 

builds iron bridges, 152. 

his diving-boat, 152. 

torpedo experiments in France, 152. 

torpedo experiments in England, 153. 

England's offer of money, 153. 

his reply, 153. 

builds his first steamboat, 153. 

returns to America, 154. 

builds steamboat here, 154. 

trip up the Hudson, 154. 

builds steamboat for the West, 155. 

what he did for Western emigration, 156. 

his grave, 156. 

summary of, 156. 

Gadsden Purchase, the, 194. 
Gage, General, in Boston, 102, 103. 

his nose, 105. 

leaves Boston, 105. 
Genoa (Jen'o-ah) (note), i. 
George II. and Georgia, 75. 
George III., resolves to tax Americans, 100. 

sends over taxed tea, 100. 

closes port of Boston, loi. 

hires German soldiers, 103. 

his statue pulled down, 106. 

his character, 127. 
Georgia, name of, 75. 



Georgia, settlement of, 75. 

Savannah, 76. 

Ebenezer, 77. 

silk raised in, 78. 

keeps out Spaniards, 78. 

in the Revolution, 78, 79. 

summary of, 79. 
Gibault (Zhe-bo'), Father, 128. 
Gin, the cotton, 139-141. 

-name of (note), 141. 
Goffe, Colonel, at Hadley, 64, and note, 222 
Gold, discovered in California, 190. 

tested by Sutter, 191, 192. 

carried to San Francisco, 193. 

excitement over, 193. 

effect of discovery of, 194. 
Grant, General, 214. 
Gray, Captain, voyage to the Pacific, 186. 

carries American flag around the world, 
187. 

names the Columbia River, 187. 

helps us to get Oregon, 188, 189. 

summary of, 189. 
Greene, General, in the Revolution, 109, 138. 
Greene, Mrs. General, 138, 139. 

Hadley, Indian attack on, 64. 

Goffe at, 64, and note, 222. 
Hamilton, Colonel, 126, 129. 
Hanks, John, and Lincoln, 204, 209, 210. 
Harrison, General, birthplace of (note), 159. 

governor of Indiana Territory, 159. 

marches against the Indians, 159. 

gains victory of Tippecanoe, 160. 

beats the British, 161. 

elected President, 163. 

death of, 163. 

summary of, 163. 
Henry, Patrick, speech of, 145. 

sends Clark to take British forts, 127. 
Henry VII., sends Cabot on voyage of dis- 
covery, 13. 

claims part of North America, 14. 
Holland, gives Pilgrims a refuge, 39-40. 

takes possession of the country on the 
Hudson, 37. 
Houston (Hoos'ton), Sam, birthplace of 
(note), 182. 

in war with Indians, 182. 

governor of Tennessee, 183. 

goes to live with the Indians, 183. 

goes to Texas, 183. 

fights for Texas, 184. 

is made president of Texas, 184. 

in the Civil War, 185. 

death of, 185. 



INDEX. 



227 



Houston, summary of, 185. 

Howe, General, driven from Boston, 105. 

Hudson, Henry, first voyage of, 32. 

hired by the Dutch, 33. 

sails for America, 33. 

discovers the " Great River," 34. 

what he said about the country, 34. 

voyage up the river, 35. 

is feasted by the Indians, 36. 

what the Indians thought of him, 36. 

has fight with Indians, 37. 

sails for Europe, 37. 

Hudson River is named for him, 37. 

death of, in Hudson Bay, 37. 

what he would think of New York now, 
38. 

summary of, 39. 
Hudson River described, 34, 35. 

named, 37. 

Dutch settle on the, 37. 

Illinois, Clark's conquest of, 126. 
Independence, see Declaration of Independ- 
ence. 
Indians, Columbus names the, 9. 

described, 9. 

welcome the English, 20. 

of Virginia, 25. 

how they lived, 25, 26. 

and Captain Smith, 26, 27. 

feast Henry Hudson, 35, 36. 

make treaty with Pilgrims, 44. 

help the Pilgrims, 45. 

challenge Pilgrims to fight, 45. 

Standish's fight with the, 46-48. 

help the settlers of Maryland, 53. 

Roger Williams defends rights of, 56. 

how they helped Williams, 58, 59. 

great war with, in N. E., 62. 

Penn defends rights of, to land, 70. 

make treaty with Penn, 71. 

friendly to the Quakers, 72. 

war dance of, 96. 

and Daniel Boone, 117-121. 

their tricks and stratagems, 118. 

capture Boone's daughter, 119. 

capture Boone and adopt him, 120. 

in the Revolution, 126, 131. 

war in Ohio, 136. 

what they called the steamboat, 155. 

forced to move West, 157, 174. 

story of the log, " move on," 157-158. 

victory of Harrison over, 159. 

victory of Jackson over, 170, 182. 

Sam Houston goes to live with the, 
183. 



Indians, move west of the Mississippi, 174. 
See Canonchet, Canonicus, Black Hawk, 
King Philip, Massasoit, Pocahontas, 
Powhatan, Samoset, Squanto, Te- 
cumseh, " The Prophet," Wara- 
sutta, Weathersford. 
Indian treaty with Pilgrims, 44. 

with Penn, 71. 
Indian wars. King Philip's War, 62. 
in Kentucky, 117. 
at the West, in the Revolution, 126. 
in Ohio, 135, 136. 
in Illinois, 206. 
in Indiana, 159. 
in Alabama, 170. 
in Florida, 172. 
Black Hawk War, 206. 

Jackson, Andrew, birth and boyhood of, 163. 

and the gun, 164. 

and Tarleton, 165. 

his mother, 165. 

his hatred of the British, 165. 

dangers exposed to, 166. 

taken prisoner, 167. 

and the boots, 168. 

sees a battle through a knot-hole, 168. 

death of his mother, 169. 

what he said of her, 169. 

begins to learn a trade, 169. 

studies law, 169. 

goes to Tennessee, 169. 

becomes judge, 169. 

becomes general, 169. 

fights the Indians, 170. 

interview with Weathersford, 170, 171. 

wins the great battle of New Orleans, 
171, 172. 

conquers Indians in Florida, 172. 

elected President, 172. 

four steps in life of, 173. 

summary of, 174. 
James I., Jamestown named for, 24. 

denies religious liberty to his subjects, 
40, 48. 
Jamestown settled, 24. 

burned, 30. 
Jasper, Sergeant, how he saved the flag, 

109. 
Jefferson, Thomas, birth of, 143. 

home at Monticello, 144. 

beloved by his slaves, 144. 

desires to free, 145. 

hears Patrick Henry speak, 145. 

writes Declaration of Independence, 146. 

elected President, 146. 



228 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



Jefferson, Thomas, what he said about New 
Orleans and Louisiana, 146, 147. 

buys Louisiana, 147. 

his death, 149. 

inscription on his tombstone, 149. 

summary of, 149. 
"Jonathan, Brother," 196. 

origin of name (note), 196. 
Jury trial, first in America, 24. 
Jury (note), 24. 

Kaskaskia (Kas-kas'ki-a) Fort, 126, 128. 
King Philip, son of Massasoit, 60. 

becomes chief, 60. 

how he dressed and lived, 60. 

his hatred of the whites, 61. 

determines to make war, 61. 

Indians attack Swansea, 62. 

attack other towns, 63. 

burn Brookfield, 63. 

attack Hadley, 64. 

bravery shown by a woman, 64. 

the great swamp fight, 65. 

Canonchet taken, 66. 

Philip's wife and son taken, 66. 

wife and son sold into slavery, 66. 

Philip shot, 67. 

destruction caused by the war, 67. 

cost of the war, 67. 

Indian power broken, 67. 

summary of, 67. 

Lafayette (Lah-fay-et'), helps us in the Revo- 
lution, no. 

pursues Cornwallis, no. 

at the tomb of Washington, 115. 
Land acquired by the United States, see Ter- 
ritory and United States. 
Lee, General, in the Civil War, 214. 
Legislature (note), 209. 
Lexington, battle of, 102. 
Leyden (Li 'den), Holland, 39. 
Leyden jar, 87, 89. 
Liberty, religious, in Maryland, 52-55. 

religious, in Rhode Island, 59. 

religious, none formerly in England, 40, 50, 
69. 
Liberty, Sons of, in the Revolution, 38. 
Liberty, statue of, 38. 
Lincoln, Abraham, birth and boyhood of, 198. 

how he lived, 198, 199. 

death of his mother, 200. 

what he said of her, 200. 

what his step-mother said of him, 200. 

at school, 200. 

teaches himself at home, 201. 

what he read, 201. 



Lincoln, Abraham, how he used the fire- 
shovel, 201. 

description of, at seventeen, 202. 

his strength, 202. 

goes to New Orleans, 202. 

moves to Illinois, 203. 

splits rails, 204, 

hunting frolics, 204. 

tends store at New Salem, 205. 

is attacked by Jack Armstrong, 205. 

his faithfulness in little things, 205. 

called " Honest Abe," 198, 206. 

in the Black Hawk War, 206. 

becomes postmaster and surveyor, 206 

studies law, 207. 

begins to practise law, 207. 

respected by all men, 207. 

in Armstrong murder trial, 207. 

how he saved the pig, 208. 

goes to the Legislature, 209. 

goes to Congress, 197, 209. 

chosen candidate for President, 210. 

elected President, 210. 

his election brings on the Civil War, 211, 
214. 

emancipates the slaves, 214. 

murdered by Booth, 215. 

grief of the nation at his death, 216. 

summary of, 216. 
Louisiana, purchase of, 147. 

original extent of, 148. 

Major (note), 97. 
Manhattan Island, 34, 38, 39. 
Marietta, Ohio, settled, 134. 

name of, 134. 

what Washington said of, 134. 

and the Indians, 135. 

summary of, 136. 
Marshall finds gold in California, 190. 

his poverty, 194. 
Maryland, name of, 51. 

granted to Lord Baltimore, 51. 

rent of, 51. 

settlement of, 53. 

first Catholic church in America in, 

53- 
home of religious liberty, 53. 
trouble with Virginia, 54. 
Catholics of, badly treated, 54. 
Baltimore city founded, 54. 
in the Revolution, 54. 
summary of, 54. 
Massachusetts, name of, 49. 
settlement of, 49. 
in the Revolution, 49. 



INDEX. 



229 



Massasoit (Mas-sa-soit'), makes treaty with 
the Pilgrims, 44. 

kindness of, to Roger Williams, 56-58. 

King Philip, his son, 60. 
Mayflower, voyage of the, 41-43, 49. 

Ohio boat so named, 133. 
Messages (note), 176. 
Mexico, war with, 192. 

territory obtained from, 193. 
Miami (Mi-am 'i), Ohio, 135. 
Mississippi, De Soto discovers the, 18. 

belonged to France, 146. 

we get possession of the, 149. 

first steamboat on the, 155, 156. 
Moccasins (note), 105. 
Model (note), 179. 
Monticello, described, 144. 
Morgan's sharpshooters, 109. 
Morse, Samuel F. B., birth and boyhood of, 

175- 

becomes a painter, 176. 

goes to France, 176. 

thinks of using electricity to send mes- 
sages, 176. 

returns to America, 176. 

invents electric telegraph, 177, 178. 

his poverty, 178. 

takes the first photograph in America, 
178. 

gets assistance from Mr. Vail, 178, 179. 

obtains patent for the telegraph, 179. 

receives help from Congress, 179. 

and Miss Annie Ellsworth, 180. 

builds line of telegraph, 180. 

the first message sent, 181. 

how a message is sent (note), 181. 

the first year of telegraphy, 181. 

summary of, 182. 
Moultrie, Colonel, 109. 

Fort, 109. 
Mount Vernon, Washington at, 94, 104, 114, 
115- 

Nation (note), 172. 
Negroes, see Slaves. 
New Amsterdam, 38. 
New England, name of, 29. 

first settlements in, 43, 49. 
New Netherland, name of, 37. 

seized by the English, 38. 
New Orleans, owned by the French, 146. 

purchase of, 147, 148. 

battle of, 171. 

cotton exported from, 143. 
New Salem, Illinois, 205. 
Newspaper, Franklin's, 80, 86. 



New York, name of, 38. 
New York City, name, 38. 

in the Revolution, 38, 106, 113. 
North and South in the Civil War, 211-215. 
Northmen discover America (note), 14. 

Oglethorpe (O 'gel-thorp). General, who he 
was, 75. 

and prisoners for debt, 76. 

gets grant of Georgia, 75, 76. 

object of settling Georgia, 76. 

builds Savannah, 76. 

welcomes German settlers, 77, 78. 

attempts to produce silk, 78. 

sends silk as present to the queen of 
England, 78. 

keeps out the Spaniards, 78. 

in his old age, 79. 

summary of, 79. 
Ohio, first settlement in, 134. 

Indian wars in, 135, 136. 
j Ohio River, first steamboat on, 155. 
Oregon, how we got our claim to, 188. 

added to the United States, 189, 195. 

Pacific, Balboa discovers the, 18. 

Pacific Railroad completed (note), 217. 

Pacific railroads, the three, 218. 

Palisade, 46. 

Palisades of the Hudson (note), 35. 

Palmetto logs (note), 109. 

Palos, convent at, 4. 

Columbus sails from, 5. 

reception at, 10. 
Parker, Captain, at Lexington, 102. 
Patent (note), 179. 

Penn, William, receives grant of Pennsyl- 
vania, 68. 

belongs to the Society of Friends or 
Quakers, 69. 

his religion, 69. 

sends emigrants to Pennsylvania, 69. 

his conversation with Charles II., 70. 

founds Philadelphia, 70. 

his treaty with the Indians, 71. 

visits the Indians, 71. 

his treaty elm protected by a British 
officer, 71. 

said the people should make their own 
laws, 72. 

goes back to England, 73. 

the victim of a dishonest agent, 73. 

goes to prison for debt, 73. 

death of, 73. 

loveof the Indians for him, 73. 

Indians send a present to his widow, 73. 



230 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



Penn, William, grave of, 74. 

summary of, 74. 
Pennsylvania, named by Charles II., 68. 

granted to William Penn, 68. 

natural wealth of, 68. 

in the Revolution, 72, 73. 
Philadelphia, founded, 70. 

name of, 70. 

prosperity of, 72, 80. 

what Franklin did for, 87. 

in the Revolution, 72, 73. 

first Continental Congress meets in, 72, 73 

Declaration of Independence made in, 73. j 
Philip, King, see King Philip, | 

Photograph, first, in America, 178. 
Pilgrims, the, in Holland, 39. 

name of, 39. 

persecuted in England, 39-40. 

why they wished to leave Holland, 40. 

sail for America, 41. 

Captain Myles Standish goes with them 
41. 

number of the, 41. 

make a compact of government, 41. 

elect John Carver first governor, 41. 

land on the Cape, 42. 

washing-day, 42. 

explore the Cape, 42. 

land on Plymouth Rock, 42. 

settle in Plymouth, 43. 

why they chose that place, 42, 43. 

name of, 43. 

sickness and death, 43. 

meet Indians, 43. 

make treaty with Massasoit, 44. 

their first Thanksgiving, 44. 

Canonicus dares them to fight, 45. 

Governor Bradford's reply, 46. 

build a fort, 46. 

build a palisade, 46. ' 

fight the Indians at Weymouth, 47. | 

what Myles Standish did for the Pilgrims, 
47, 48. 

summary of, 49. 

See Myles Standish. 
Pioneers (note), 184. 
Pittsburg, 127, 134, 155, and see map, 94. 
Plantation (note), 91. 
Planter (note), 30. 
Plymouth, the Pilgrims settle, 43, 

natural advantages of, 42, 43. 

name of, 43. 

See Pilgrims. 
Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims land on, 42. 
Pocahontas (Po-ka-hon'tas) saves Smith's 
life, 27, and see note, 222. 



Pocahontas, marries Rolfe, 27. 

her descendants, 27. 
Ponce de Leon, see De Leon. 
Potato, the, sent to England, 21. 

Raleigh plants it in Ireland, 21. 
Powder, lack of, in Revolution, 105. 

sent from Savannah to Bunker Hill, 79. 
Powhatan (Pow-ha-tan') and Captain John 

Smith, 27. 
Prison-ships, British, 169. 
" Prophet," the, and Tecumseh, 159, 161. 

at the battle of Tippecanoe, 159. 

his sacred beans, 160. 

Indians say he is a liar, 160. 

Tecumseh takes him by the hair, 161. 
Prophet (note), 158. 
Providence, name of, 59. 

settled, 59. 

religious liberty in, 59. 
Puritans (note), 40. 

settle Boston, 48. 
Putnam, General Rufus, services in the Rev- 
olution, 132. 

builds fortifications at DorchesterHeights, 
132, 133- 

builds the Mayflower, 133. 

settles Marietta, Ohio, 134. 

summary of, 136. 

Quakers, see Friends. 

Railroad, the first, in America, 173, and note, 
174. 

growth of railroads, 174. 

first Pacific (note), 217. 

the three Pacific railroads, 218. 
Raleigh (Rawii), Sir Walter, a favorite of 
Queen Elizabeth, 20. 

sends exploring expedition to America, 20. 

receives title of honor, 20. 

sends settlers to Virginia, 21. 

receives tobacco and potato plants from 
Virginia, 21. 

plants them in Ireland, 21. 

spends a great deal of money on his Vir 
ginia colony, 21. 

fails to establish a settlement, 21. 

last days of, 21. 

is beheaded, 22. 

power of his example, 22. 

summary of, 22. 
Ranches (note), 218. 
Rebels (note), 167. 
Red-coats (note), 165. 
Religious liberty, none in England, 40. 

in Maryland, 53. 



INDEX. 



23 



Religious liberty, in Rhode Island, 59. 
Religious persecution in England, 40, 50, 69. 

of Catholics, 50, 54. 

of Pilgrims, 40. 

of Puritans, 48. 

of Quakers, 69. 
Revere's (Re-veer'), Paul, ride, 102. 
Revolution, the, cause of, 100. 

first blood shed in, 102. 

progress of, 100-113. 

Declaration of Independence, 106. 

battles of, see Battles. 

end of, 113, 115. 

See Washington. 
Revolution, the, in Delaware, 73. 

Georgia, 79. 

Maryland, 54. 

Massachusetts, 49, 102-106, 132. 

New England, 49. 

New Jersey, 73, 107, 108. 

New York, 38, 106, 108, 113. 

North Carolina, 79, no, 122, 164-169. 

Pennsylvania, 73, 108. 

Rhode Island, 59. 

South Carolina, 79, 109, no, 164-169. 

Virginia, 31, 110-112, 145, 146. 

in the West, 126-131. 
Rhode Island settled, 59. 

religious liberty in, 59. 

in the Revolution, 59. 
Robertson, James, birthplace of (note), 123. 

his home in North Carolina, 123. 

emigrates to Watauga, Tennessee, 124. 

and Sevier, 125. 

what he did for the new settlement, 125. 

Washington makes him general, 125. 

summary of, 125. 

Sacramento, Sutter's Fort at, 190. 

Sacred (note), 160. 

Salem, Roger Williams' church at, 55. 

Samoset (Sam'o-set) and the Pilgrims, 44. 

San Salvador (Sal'va-dor), Columbus names, 

9- 
Saratoga, battle of, 108. 
Savannah settled, 76. 

in the Revolution, 78, 79. 
Seal, great, of United States, 220 and note. 
Seekonk, Roger Williams at, 58. 
Senate Chamber (note), 180. 
Sergeant (Sar'jent) (note), 109. 
Sevier (Se-veer'), John, born in Virginia 
(note), 122, 124. 

emigrates to Watauga, Tennessee, 124. 

and Robertson, 125. 

what he did for Watauga, 125. 



Sevier, John, becomes first governor of Ten- 
nessee, 125. 

summary of, 125. 
Sharpshooters in the Revolution, 105, 109. 
Silk, attempt to produce, in Georgia, 78. 

sent to England, 78. 

the Queen has a dress made of it, 78. 
Silkworm (note), 78. 
Slaves, negro, first brought to Virginia, 30. 

employed in raising tobacco, 30. 

planters gro^^ich by, 30. 

all the colonies buy, 30, 211. 

Washington's, 104. 

Jefferson beloved by his, 143-145. 

Jefferson's feeling in regard to, 145. 

how employed on cotton, 139. 

and the cotton-gin, 140, 141. 

gradually freed at the North, 211. 

their condition unchanged at the South, 
211. 

feeling at the South about, 211-214. 

feeling at the North about, 212-214. 

question of holding, divides the states, 
211-214. 

Lincoln in regard to increasing number 
of, 213, 214. 

and the Civil War, 211-214. 

freed by President Lincoln, 214. 

effect of emancipation of, on the Union, 
215. 
Smith, John, early life and adventures of, 23. 

sold as a slave, 23. 

starts for Virginia, 23. 

arrested on the voyage on a false charge, 
23. 

is tried and acquitted, 24. 

court grants him damages, 24. 
I what he hoped to do in Virginia, 24. 

what he did for the sick, 25. 

prevents desertion, 25. 

goes in search of the Pacific, 26. 

is captured by Indians, 26. 

how he used his pocket compass, 26. 

brought before Powhatan, 26. 

Pocahontas saves his life, 27 and (note) 
222. 

made governor of Jamestown, 27. 

his opinion of the gold-diggers, 28. 

compels Indians to let settlers have corn, 
28. 

makes all the settlers work, 28. 

his cold-water cure for swearing, 28, 29. 

meets with a terrible accident, 29. 

goes back to England, 29. 

returns and explores country north of 
Virginia, 29. 



232 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



Smith, John, names it New England, 29. 

death and burial of, 29. 

what he did for Virginia, 29. 

his books and maps, 30. 

is called the " Father of Virginia," 30. 

writes Captain Henry Hudson, 33. 

summary of, 32. 
South, the, in the Civil War, 214, 215. 

great progress of, since the war, 217, 218. 
Spaniards settle Florida, 19. 

are kept out of Georgia, 78. 
Squanto (Skwon'to), how he helped the Pil- 
grims, 44, 45. 
Squaws (note), 120. 

Standish, Myles, an English soldier in Hol- 
land, 41. 

goes to America with the Pilgrims, 41. 

explores Cape Cod, 42. 

lands at Plymouth Rock, 42. 

was nurse as well as soldier, 43. 

goes to meet Massasoit, 44. 

feared by the Indians, 46. 

escorts the Pilgrims to church, 46. 

has a fight with the Indians, 47. 

saves Plymouth from attack by Indians, 
48. 

what else he did for the Pilgrims, 48. 

what he left at his death, 48. 

his monument, 48. 

summary of, 49. 
Steamboat, Fulton's, on the Hudson, 154 

first at the West, 155, 156. 

effect of, on emigration, 156. 
St. Mary's, settlement at, 53. 
Survey (note), 95. 

Sutter (Soo'ter), John A., his fort in Califor- 
nia, 189. 

founds Sacramento, 189. 

lives like a king, 190. 

begins to build saw-mill at Colona, 190. 

Marshall brings him gold-dust to test, 191. 

is convinced that gold has been found, 192. 

how he felt at the discovery, 192. 

loses his property, 194. 

is pensioned by California, 194. 

summary of, 197. 
Swansea (Swon'ze) attacked by Indians, 62. 
Swordfish (note), 152. 

Tarleton (Tarl'ton), cruelty of, 165. 

called " Butcher Tarleton," 165. 

his soldiers and the bees, 165. 

is beaten at Cowpens, 167. 

what he hears from the children, 166, 167. 
Taxation of America by George HI., 100. 

chief cause of the Revolution, 100. 



Tea, taxed, sent to America, 100. 

destruction of, 100. 

" Boston Tea Party," 100, loi. 
Tecumseh (Te-kum'seh) excites the Indians 
to war, 158, 169. 

takes the " Prophet" by the hair, 161. 

fights for the British in Canada, 161. 

is killed, i5i. 
Telegraph, meaning of the word (note), 176. 

what it is, 176, 177. 

electric, invented by Morse, 177, 178. 

Vail's work on, 178, 179. 

patented by Morse, 179. 

Congress grants money to build line, 180. 

first message over, 181. 

business of, in 1845, 181. 

business of, to-day, 181. 

how messages are sent by (note), 181. 

Atlantic, 181. 

See Samuel F. B. Morse. 
Telephone, meaning of the word (note), 180. 

what it is, 180. 

when invented (note), 180. 

use of, to-day, 182. 
Tennessee, first settlement of, 124, 125. 

See James Robertson and John Sevier. 
Terrier (note), 161. 
Territory added to the United States since the 

Revolution, 195; and see United States. 
Tests (note), 192. 
Texas, forms part of Mexico, 183. 

we try to buy it, 183. 

Houston goes to, 183. 

massacre of Americans at Fort Alamo, 
184. 

war of independence, 184. 

flag of, 184. 

annexed, 184. 

dispute with Mexico about boundary, 192. 

Mexican war and, 192, 193. 

and the Civil War, 185. 

summary of, 185. 
Tippecanoe, battle of, 159. 
Tobacco sent from Virginia to Sir Walter 
Raleigh, 21. 

he plants it in Ireland, 21. 

value of, to Virginia, 30. 
Torpedo (note), 153. 

Fulton's experiments with torpedoes, 153. 
Tow cloth (note), 205. 
Travis (Tra vis), Colonel, in Texas, 184. 
Treaty, Indian, with Pilgrims, 44. 

with William Penn, 71. 

(note), 70. 
Tryon, Governor, in North Carolina, 123. 

oppression by, 123. 



INDEX. 



233 



Tryon, Governor, called the "Great Wolf of 
North Carolina," 123. 
at battle of Alamance, 123. 

Union (note), 211. 

the South resolves to withdraw from the, 

211, 214. 
strengthened by result of the Civil War, 
215. 
United States, independence of, declared, 146. 
War of the Revolution, see Revolution, 
more perfect Union formed (note), 211. 
extent of, at the close of the Revolution, 

147- 
acquires Louisiana (1803), 148. 
acquires Florida (1819), 172, 173. 
acquires Texas (1845), 184, 185. 
acquires Oregon (1846), 188, 189. 
acquires California and New Mexico 

(1848), 193. 
acquires Gadsaen Purchase (1853), ^95' 

196. 
acquires Alaska (1867), 196. 
extent of, to-day, 196. 
War of 1812, 161, 171. 
War of, with Mexico, 192. 
the Civil War, 211. 
growth since the War, 217-220. 
and "World's Columbian Exposition," 

220. 
great seal of, 220. 
what we can do for, 220. 

Vail, Alfred, and Morse's telegraph, 179. 
Venison (note), 20. 

Vespucci, Amerigo (A-ma-ree'go Ves-poot'- 
chee), 16. 

and name America, 17. 
Vigo (Vee'go) helps Clark, 128, 129. 
Vincennes (Vin-senz'), Fort, 126-131. 
Virginia, Raleigh's expedition to, 20. 

named by Elizabeth, 20. 

first settlement in, 21. 

first English child in America born in, 21. 

failure of first settlement, 21. 

tobacco and potato sent from, 21. 

permanently settled at Jamestown, 24. 

first English church in, 24. 

first jury trial in, 24. 

Captain Smith made governor of, 27. 

books about, 30. 

slaves sent to, 30. 

tobacco, cultivation of, 30. 

prosperity of, 30. 

Berkeley and Bacon's war in, 30. 

Jamestown burned, 31. 



Virginia, growth of, 31. 

makes ready to fight for its rights, 145. 

first demands independence of America, 
31- 

in the Revolution, see Revolution. 

owns extensive western possessions, 127. 

George Washington and, 31. 

the " Mother of Presidents," 31. 

summary of, 32. 

in the Civil War, 215. 
Virginia Dare, birth of, 21. 
Voted (note), 180. 

Wamsutta, death of, 60. 
War, Bacon's, in Virginia, 30. 

King Philip's, in New England, 61-67. 

of the Revolution, see Revolution. 

with the British in the West, 126-131. 

with Indians in the West, 126. 

with Indians in Ohio, 136. 

with Indians in Indiana, 159, 160. 

with Indians in Illinois, 206. 

the Black Hawk, 206. 

with Indians in Alabama, 169. 

with Indians in Florida, 172. 

of 1812 (note), 141, 142, 161, 171. 

cause of, of 1812, i6i. 

of Texan independence, 183. 

with Mexico, 192. 

cause of Mexican, 192. 

the Civil, 211-215. 

cause of the Civil, 211-214. 
War-whoop (war-hoop) (note), 64. 
Washington, George, birth and boyhood of, 
91-94. 

at school, 92. 

playing at war, 93. 

battle with the colt, 93. 

what he owed to his mother, 92. 

visits Mount Vernon, 94. 

makes acquaintance of Lord Fairfax, 94. 

surveys Lord Fairfax's land, 95, 96. 

life in the woods, 95, 96. 

sees an Indian war-dance, 96. 

is made public surveyor, 96. 

appearance of, at twenty -one, 96. 

receives title of major, 97. 

governor of Virginia sends him to order 
off the French, 97. 

journey through the wilderness, 97, 98 

narrow escape of, 98. 

receives title of colonel, 98. 

goes with Braddock's expedition, 99. 

tries to hold Fort Necessity, 99. 

goes to Mount Vernon to live, 104. 

his slaves, 104. 



234 



THE BEGINNER S AMERICAN HISTORY. 



Washington, George, made commander-in- 
chief in the Revolution, 104, 

takes command of army, 104. 

raises first American flag, 104 and (note) 
III. 

drives British from Boston, 105, 132. 

goes to New York, 106. 

chased by Cornwallis, 106. 

retreats across the Delaware, 106. 
' victory of Trenton, 107. 

victory of Princeton, 108. 

at Valley Forge, 108. 

enters Philadelphia, 108. 

marches against Yorktown, no. 

takes Yorktown, in, 112. 

his coat-of-arms (note), in. 

goes back to Mount Vernon, 114. 

elected President, 114. 

takes oath of office, 114. 

Lafayette visits his tomb, 115. 

summary of, 115. 
Washington, Lawrence, at Mount Vernon, 94 

death of, 104. 

Colonel William, 167 and note. 
Washington, the Capitol at, burned, 161. 

rebuilt, 161, 162. 
Watauga (Wa-taw'ga), settlement of, 124. 
Wayne, General, in Ohio, 136. 
Weathersford and General Jackson, 171. 
West, the, in the Revolution, 126. 

conquest of, 126-131. 

at treaty of peace with England, 131. 

settlement of, 119, 124, 133. 

acquisition of country west of the Missis- 
sippi, see United States. 

effects of steamboat navigation on, 156, 

157- 
effects of railroads on, 173, 174. 
rapid growth of, 218, 219. 
See Boone, Clark, Robertson, Sevier, 

Jefferson, Houston, Gray, Sutter. 



Weymouth, Standish fights Indians at, 47. 
What Cheer Rock, Providence, 59. 
White, Father, in Maryland, 53, 54. 
Whitney, Eli, birth and boyhood of, 137. 

cuts his name on a door, 137. 

makes a fiddle, 137. 

makes nails, 138. 

goes to Yale College, 138. 

his skill with tools, 138. 

goes to Georgia, 138. 

stops with Mrs. General Greene, 138. 

makes her an embroidery frame, 139. 

has a talk about cotton and cotton-seeds, 

139- 

invents the cotton-gin, 140, 141. 

effect of his invention, 141, 143. 

builds a gun-factory, 141. 

makes muskets for War of 1812, 142. 

summary of, 142. 
Wilderness, the Great, 126. 
" Wilderness Road," Boone makes the, 118. 
Williams, Roger, comes to Boston, 55. 

preaches in Salem and Plymouth, 56. 

is very friendly to the Indians, 56. 

declares that they own the land, 56. 

Boston authorities attempt to arrest, 56. 

escapes and goes to Massasoit, 57. 

his journey through the wilderness, 57. 

reception by Massasoit, 58. 

builds a cabin at Seekonk, 58. 

leaves Seekonk, 58. 

greeted by the Indians, 58. 

Canonicus lets him have land, 59. 

settles Providence, 59. 

grants religious liberty to all settlers, 59. 

summary of, 59. 
Winthrop, Governor John, settles Boston, 

48. 
Wool-comber (note), 1. 

World, knowledge of, before Columbus dis- 
covered America, 3. 



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